tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198390912401056862.post8620512277245048017..comments2023-10-14T06:19:18.000-05:00Comments on Rocket Scientist: Why the Hatred?Stephanie Barrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17772217449161603561noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198390912401056862.post-58198608848323693912011-11-12T19:09:00.426-06:002011-11-12T19:09:00.426-06:00Well, I did talk about pedophilia, briefly. I said...Well, I did talk about pedophilia, briefly. I said, "Being sexually attracted to children doesn't make you a monster; using children sexually, including contributing to demand for child pornography, does."<br /><br />I'm perhaps less convinced that pedophilia is a sexual orientation (based on the data from the same serial killers that frequently targeted children - there's strong evidence they went after children because children were easy targets - which could explain why they go back). However, they get no free pass because children should be protected until they are in a position to make informed choices. <br /><br />Consenting and adult are the key elements for me. I know some people in the BDSM world (long story) and I know most are very careful with the masochists in charge. People get themselves stabbed and pierced and their tongues split and all kinds of scary things. Consenting adult, it's not my business. And my opinion continues to forward into suicide. I don't think it should be illegal, including assisted suicide. Why should someone else decide if someone should have to go on living?<br /><br />The battered spouse case is sticky. I know enough about the victim mentality (and I lived two years more with a husband who was throttling me on the kitchen floor while my three year old screamed in the background) to know you can't stop the problem without the victim's consent. I didn't want to be beaten. I wanted to believe it was a mistake. I was an idiot. <br /><br />Once children are involved, I'm not sure the spouse should get to choose any more (and I will be responsible to my daughter for the example I set those two years for the rest of my life). But you're not wrong in saying it's a sticky wicket, a lot more gray. <br /><br />I'm tolerant, absolutely, when everyone involved is a willing adult partner in everything going on (a battered wife frequently isn't willing to be battered even if the rest of the marriage is blissful). The further we move from consenting, the less tolerant and more involved I believe society needs to be. With children, no tolerance for misuse. If society doesn't protect it's children, in my opinion, it's failed.Stephanie Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17772217449161603561noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8198390912401056862.post-20953932254871970202011-11-12T18:49:09.493-06:002011-11-12T18:49:09.493-06:00Pedophilia is a sexual orientation. It is a geneti...Pedophilia is a sexual orientation. It is a genetic predisposition same as heterosexuality. It is a genetic "mistake." Of course, we wouldn't say "mistake" in the case of a genetic predisposition for homosexuality. I have never heard of a homosexual being "cured" and I have never heard of a pedophile who doesn't continue to follow his genes when released from prison. Our particular society doesn't abide pedophilia. It (our western society) used to not abide homosexuality. Things change, and sometimes for the better.<br /><br />Turning your head on things that don't seem quite right comes under the banner of "tolerance." I'm not a believer in tolerance of all things (some people are) but usually tolerance is the right course. Accepting people who are different and not hating them is the proper thing to do, especially when you are not harmed and society is not harmed. You are right about not persecuting GLBT people. At the same time, I hope our society still hasn't acquired enough tolerance to condone pedophila (though some "free thinkers" such as NAMBLA do.) I think they allowed the abuse of children in this manner back in Roman times. Other societies have very different rules today. Are ours better and theirs horrifying?<br /><br />In another post you said you didn't care what adults did behind closed doors, that it wasn't any of your business (and, presumably, none of society's business, either.) Though you may not have said it in your recent posts (or maybe you did) I know you also intend the caveats of "mutual consent" and "no harm to either party."<br /><br />Yet what of the heterosexual sadistic male who beats up his wife? The police can haul him off to jail and put the wife in a shelter, but she'll never testify against him. Instead, she'll go bail him out and go live with him again. Why? This is just as hard a question as the one about "why anger" that you posed. Is she a masochist? Does she think she somehow "deserves" beatings? In her twisted thinking, does she think his beating her means he loves her? And, above all, do we "tolerate" this consensual behavior, even those someone is getting hurt?" If not, why do we not force the husband to keep away from her even if she wants him? Difficult questions and no easy answers and much of this.<br /><br />What of lashing with leather whips? What of cutting the woman (or the man) and rolling in the blood until they are sexually satisfied? Doesn't harm YOU. They love doing it. None of YOUR business. None of society's business.<br /><br />Involving children IS society's business. That particular sexual orientation will land you in prison and get you on a list for life. Not necessarily so in some Middle Eastern nations. Or Thailand maybe.<br /><br />We arrive at the core of what do we want our society to be. What kind of society do YOU want? Is "tolerance" and minding your own business really all it's cracked up to be? Is there not a point where we need to define what we want our society to "tolerate"? Is society REALLY not being harmed? I wonder sometimes.<br /><br />Well, this has nothing to do with homosexuality, though, or anger. I digressed.<br /><br />You pose some interesting questions in these posts. I know you didn't ask to talk about pedophilia. I am still thinking about hatred. I still don't think any of you have hit on it yet exactly.Relax Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01051381168322495999noreply@blogger.com