John Edwards, titter, titter

John Edwards had an affair in 2006. He told his wife. She forgave him. One might think that would be the end of the story, especially as an estimated 50% of men cheat on their wives and we already know politicians are perhaps even more guilty of such offenses. So big deal. From the MSM, however, you might think this was the beginning of a new World War. David Gregory even went so far as to suggest this was another problem Obama would have to deal with. What the hell does it have to do with Obama? And why would any newsperson even suggest such a thing? You might think there were far more important things to highlight, but apparently not for the MSM. Endless hours will be spent on this totally trivial affair while the crimes of Bush/Cheney will continue to be ignored. This is what the 24/7 news has become. Anderson Cooper went for this tawdry story big time and it will no doubt continue for days.

The bears are apparently continuing their rebellion against their rapacious human foes. In British Columbia, where there are lots of bears, one broke into a house in search of food. It was tranquilized before being shot to death. How humane. Another bear attacked a woman working in her garden and injured her. It, too, was shot and killed. Bears have no right to eat. Apparently there have been hundreds of reports of bears bothering humans this year. When there are few berries, bears tend to search for food. There is an obvious solution with a great historical precedent. Kill all the uppity bears! Cougars, too, are becoming a problem. In Colorado a cougar entered a house, grabbed a Labrador revtriever, dragged it outside and killed it. It has not been made clear if this was a full-grown dog, nor was it explained how this could have happened without the people, who were upstairs, being aware of it. Those sneaky cougars. Wolves, too, are increasingly on the warpath. They have been killing lots of dogs here in Idaho (wolves and dogs are natural enemies). The coyotes in our backyard are also acting up and getting closer every night. I tell you, there is an animal conspiracy. They are fed up with us (I can’t say that I blame them, but I do worry about my elegant little cat, Katie).

When you get to be my age I guess you just naturally begin to reflect back on your life. Last night, for whatever reason, I began thinking about how I became enculturated into homophobia. In the small mining town where I grew up, everyone was homophobic, as far as I know. They weren’t obsessed with it. They didn’t talk about it a lot, or even very often. But when the subject came up of “Queers” there was no doubt about the lack of sympathy and the universal condemnation. Finding and beating up queers was regarded as a kind of sport, and those who engaged in this activity were very boastful of their achievements. I don’t remember exactly when I first became aware of this. I was probably in my early teens. As everyone was passionately opposed to queers, so I, too, participated in that mind set. Interestingly enough, I didn’t associate queers with homosexuality, for the simple reason that I didn’t know anything about homosexuality. I barely knew anything about sex at all. For me, the problem of queers was that they were “queer.” Who wants to have anything to do with queer people (of any kind)? I can honestly say I didn’t think much about this, I just fell in with the prevailing ethos. Even later, when I finally learned that queers were homosexuals, I still didn’t think much about it, other than thinking that was sort of queer. Of course there were no homosexuals in our little town, for the obvious reason that no one would ever, ever, under any circumstances, admit to being queer (there were a couple of sort of effeminate guys that may have provoked suspicion, but it never went much further than that until years later when it was confirmed). Anyway, as I grew up and went to college, studied anthropology, psychology, and psychiatry, and traveled fairly widely, I began to understand just how trivial the issue of homosexuality really is (along with people cheating on their spouses). When you consider the incredible range of human sexual behavior (including true and really exotic perversions), it is difficult to be concerned about gays. I believe now there is nothing that would surprise me when it comes to human sexuality. Well, that is not exactly true, I do not understand what seems to be a fairly common practice of sex and perversion involving small children. This does surprise me and I am amazed at how common this seems to be nowadays. I wonder if it was always so or if there is something about the “modern world” that is bringing it about (or is it just the case that it is now much more widely reported?). I had very similar enculturation experiences with racism and anti-Semitism, but those are stories for another day.

LKBIQ:
Chastity: the most unnatural of the sexual perversions.
Aldous Huxley