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December 28, 2004
What if they gave a Culture War and nobody, um, came?
Via Rhetorica (who finds wrap-ups annoying), I found an interesting WaPo take on 2004: In 2004, the New Republic ran a cover story called "God Bless Atheism." Rolling Stone ran an editorial that proclaimed: "Janet Jackson's breast is the 9/11 of the new culture war." Archaeology Odyssey published an article titled "Roman Latrines: How the Ancients Did Their Business." And Details, the metrosexual men's mag, revealed a hitherto undetected social trend: "Marrying a relative isn't just for the trailer park anymore."Obviously, this blog has no problem with ancient Roman latrines as one of the big stories of 2004. But the Rolling Stone "Culture War" quote is a bit perplexing, because it's really getting around. Just this morning I saw it in mentioned in the Philadelphia Inquirer, where staff writer Daniel Rubin (bless his heart!) was nice enough to counter it with much-needed perspective from Jeff Jarvis: Was it, as Washington Post critic Tom Shales asked, the "nipple that inflamed a thousand nut cases?" Or "the 9/11 of the new culture war," as Rolling Stone editorialized?Excellent point, and Jeff's groundbreaking story (discussed infra) was infinitely more revealing than the breast thingie. (And, I suspect, much more revealing about the inner workings of the divisive dispute over personal tastes which is so inappropriately called the "Culture War.") What bothers me is that I failed to keep abreast of what these people are all calling the biggest "offensive" yet in the Culture War. Another 9/11, no less! And I didn't see it! (Although I suspect I still wouldn't get it if I had.) Shame on me! I'll have to get caught up somehow, folks. But I'd been all caught up in RatherGate, which I thought was a much dirtier affair than NippleGate. Wrong again (at least according to conventional wisdom). I always miss the (Sheesh! Some Culture War blog this is turning out to be . . . ) posted by Eric on 12.28.04 at 09:55 AM
Comments
I actually think there is a culture war, but boobies ... Janet's or Girls Gone Wild in Fort Lauderdale ... are not the issue. And it's more than "personal taste." It's really about those that recognize there is a personal and public societal sphere of behavior and those that blur the line. Janet's stunt in a Vegas showroom would not have even produced a raised eyebrow. Indeed, I would posit that most people who found her stunt at the Super Bowl beyond the pale have no problem with Vegas shows, clubs, adult movies, etc. So why would Shales deem it necessary to broadbrush them as "nutjobs"? The answer to that is to define the culture war. Darleen · December 28, 2004 10:51 PM If you're into those kind of polls, try this. peter bellone · December 29, 2004 01:01 AM The HUMAN PARADIGM Consider: "WHAT IS MAN...?" God asks - and answers: Many problems in human experience are the result of false Human knowledge is a fraction of the whole universe. The Humanism makes man his own standard of measure. However, Because man, hobbled in an ego-centric predicament, cannot The void of human ignorance can easily be filled with a 1.Transcendent Criteria and The vision of faith in God and His Word is survival equip- Man is earth's Choicemaker. Psalm 25:12 He is by nature At the sub-atomic level of the physical universe quantum Only statistical conglomerates pay tribute to Biological science affirms that each level of life, The survival and progression of life forms has all too Only a moving universe of opportunity plus choice enables Each individual human being possesses a unique, highly Man is earth's Choicemaker. His title describes his The arts and the sciences of man, as with his habits, Man is earth's Choicemaker. The sublime and significant Deterministic systems, ideological symbols of abdication Tampering with man's selective nature endangers his Until the oppressors discover that wisdom only just Additionally, such rejection of transcendent criteria Humanism, mired in the circular and mundane egocentric The carnal-ego rejects criteria and self-discipline for such It remained, therefore, to the initiative of a personal Only the unique and superior God-man Person can deserved- As long as some choose to abdicate their personal reality That human institution which is structured on the Let us proclaim it. Behold! CONTEMPORARY COMMENTS "Man is a being capable of subduing his emotions and "To make any sense of the idea of morality, it must be "The advocate of liberty believes that it is complementary "Our Founding Fathers believed that we live in an ordered "We have the gift of an inner liberty so far-reaching "Above all I see an ability to choose the better from the "Freedom is the Right to Choose, the Right to create for THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWER Q: "Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Q: "What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is Q: "What is man, that You should magnify him, that You Q: "What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son References: Sir Isaac Newton Daniel 9:25-26 Habakkuk 2:2-3 KJV selah "What is man...?" Earth's Choicemaker Psalm 25:12 KJV An old/new paradigm - Mr. Jefferson would agree! Jim Baxter · December 29, 2004 10:23 AM Lots to think about -- particularly in that last collection of comments. But unless I'm missing something, I just don't think Janet Jackson's nipple was really the 9/11 of the Culture War. Eric Scheie · December 29, 2004 10:57 AM One of the villains in the Marquis de Sade's "120 Days of Sodom" (a book you probably would not want to give to your child on his 6th birthday) remarked: "A tit is an infamous thing." Having no television in the 18th century, he knew not how prophetic he was. The thing that comes to my mind when I think of Janet Jackson's infamous tit is how Matt Drudge expressed shock and indignation at the display, and then, to show us just how indignant and outraged he was, showed a big close-up of that breast, which I saved to my disk as a .jpg file. I'm also turned on by the way Tammy Bruce, a Lesbian, a woman turned on by another woman's breasts, was mad at them showing that breast on TV. Her _style_! I have to agree with Darleen. A football game on TV in prime time is a different setting than a strip club in Las Vegas or a Web site or blog. There are laws in every town against taking off your clothes on the sidewalk. When I pulled down my pants in the lunchroom for a banana in 1st grade, my Mama gave me a good spanking. I was a naughty boy. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Taboos are necessary. The mystery and forbiddenness of sex is what makes sex sexy. I'm against the liberals or Naturalists trying to break down all barriers between "everyday reality" and erotic/aphroditic reality". I get stiff thinking of holy Dawn and her holy Negro wife Norma and their stiff laws against adultery. Discipline. The bondage of holy wedlock. Captivating. Tight and High. Conservative Lesbian Individualist Theology. And I love the _style_of Jim Baxter's comment here. Individual Freedom within Divine Order. Steven Malcolm Anderson (Cato theElder) the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · December 29, 2004 04:08 PM
Enter Grudge · January 16, 2005 04:59 PM |
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Our once-fierce radicals have nothing left to radicalize but sex. The teenagers will become indignant and save the world.
Um-hum. Just like last time.
(Yawn)
Personally, I like my sex private.