Help! I've been freeped! (Part II)

This morning, I posted what I intended to be a humorous thread about my brother's use of the "The Clenis invented blow jobs." right-wing idiocy. The act of writing about it got me thinking. As I responded to some of the posts, I became more disturbed. Mom called after lunch, and discussing it with her, I became yet more concerned.

"Bill Clinton popularized oral sex, thus perverting our nation's teens." is one of the dumbest, most asinine statements I have ever heard. I've joked about it and laughed at it, simply because it is totally absurd. Mom was aware that it was hokey spin whipped out to obscure the findings that abstinence only sex-ed was a dismal failure. That assured me that I hadn't imagined it. But honestly, I always thought it was a straw-man intended to derail discussion. I never thought anyone believed it!

Let's be honest. The whole idea is worthy only of comedic satire. I could imagine a Saturday Night Live skit with this storyline. But no serious political debate can ensue from such a statement. Let's look at only the obvious problems with this:

• Today's high school seniors were ten years old in 1998. When I was ten, I knew who was president because of all the brouhaha surrounding Vietnam. I had to pay attention because by then it was obvious that my ass was next. I'd be surprised if half of today's ten year olds knew more about the presidency than the Monkey King's name.
  
• Given my own mindset in high school, the last person I would have looked to as a sexual role model was the freakin' President. (In all honesty, it was Nixon, so I am biased.) I can't imagine that today's teens are much different.
  
• Human sexuality is so complex that the very idea of claiming a major behavior shift due to a single incident is ludicrous. Parental influence, social norms, peer attitudes were all voided by the mighty Clenis? Please.
  
• I'm sure there are other and better reasons, but at the moment, I'm too stunned to think it through completely.
  

The point is, the arguments I've listed are blatantly obvious. But for some reason, people (as my brother has so painfully proven) buy into this shit. I could laugh about it as long as I was convinced that nobody really believed it, that it was bullshit being thrown around just to confuse the debate. (Think about it. The moment you hear it, your immediate response is: "That's the dumbest thing I ever heard." and your brain locks up. It's the Chewbaka defense of political debate.) But the idea that even one person buys in to this crap horrifies me. Are we so stupid, as a culture, that even undisguised nonsense can pass as reality? If people really, honestly, seriously believe the Clenis perverted a generation, that we'll still find WMD in Iraq, that George W. Bunnypants is a Good Old Boy, then we are well and truly screwed. Within a decade, the Flying Spaghetti monster will no longer be a satirical phenomenon, it will be the guiding motive for hordes of self-appointed evangelists in airport lounges. Barney the purple, talking stuffed toy will be president. If people actually buy into such shit, what hope does the human race have?

"Look at the silly monkey!"

who stated that 'oral sex isn't sex', was Newt Gingrich.

Tell him that.

I'd like to be able to use that w/my winger relatives.

I will PM you the details.

and there was plenty of oral sex going on. I guess we were trendsetters, huh?

n/t

I carefully answered a few questions about just why Clinton was in trouble.

I think the concept of oral sex might, therefore, have been introduced a bit earlier to some kids than otherwise. But geez, having oral sex because you learned it existed? Or because some old guy did it? I don't think so.

Also, you can tell kids the entired facts of life when they are five, but they only hear what they want to. It takes a good long while for it all to sink in and it doesn't until the child is developmentally ready to understand what it means.

the giggling murderer Bush for devaluing human life!!

or do you think that perhaps he is being a lawyer for team red and is arguing for arguments sake against team blue?

If he does really believe in his argument why doesn't he have problems with Bob Dole who had commercials for Viagra (and a pepsi ad with him ogling Britney Spears in a reference to his viagra ad). That to me is more of a promotion for sex (he was actually selling a sexual product).

What you said about people with so much interest in sex as a means and motive for hordes of self-appointed evangelists is the root of the problem. I think that many of these people who like pointing the finger just like the sound of their own voices and the power they feel in condemning other people (they feel God-like).

The only people listening to these sorts of ramblings about Clinton's effect on teenage sexuality are adults. Teenagers are preoccupied with their personal microcosm that they live in.The kids are definitely more tuned into pop culture than politics (I'm sure kids talk much more about Britney Spears and Kevin Federline than George and Laura Bush). And if the government has any part in making teenagers think of sex, they should look to the pharmaceutical companies that let the kids know that they can have erections for hours and hours by taking a pill that makes many allies of the government very rich.

People have been having oral sex for as long as there have been people having sex. Just my guess. :D

Hell, look back to the sexual history of Ancient Greece and Rome. They did stuff that'd probably make some of us blush in modern times. Oral sex was just the tip of the iceburg. :p

I gave my first blowjob at 18, but I lost my virginity at 16. Where would I fit in in this little scenario? (I was a teen in the early 90s). :shrug:

(also early 90's teen). I guess I didn't see the point of just being a giver and not a taker!

... especially high school kids.

I can't tell you how many times I had this conversation when I was in high school in 1998:

Me - "Hey man, how'd your date go?"
Friend - "Pretty good, if you know what I mean."
Me - "So'd she put out?"
Friend - "Naw, I just got some head."

I have worked at high schools for the past few years and I have heard that same conversation dozens of times from the kids in the hallways and the weight rooms.

No one really thinks it's sex.

will it be a legitimate to say children torture animals, other children, etc. because "Bush popularized torture."

Hell, why wait five years? For those idiots with the attention span of a gnat, 5 months is long enough.