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September 19, 2006

Boobs, Bloggers and the Pope

I spent most of my weekend having fun with the twins, so I missed the big boobie brouhaha. Oh, geez … am I ever ….zadhoei;zzzzzzz.

Oh. Sorry. Guess I dozed off there for a moment.

People … boobs happen! Usually to about fifty percent of the world’s adult population and it seems that almost one hundred percent of the adults want to obsess about them.

Scratch that. Adults have, so to say, come to peace with boobs. We deal with them with either matter-of-factly, with admiration or with humor … even risqué humor.

Juveniles of all ages, however, use them as political symbols, promotional objects or just plain get stupid over them.

There's this attitude out there, a perception, that there's something wrong with beautiful women using their looks to draw readers. The idea is supposed to be that it's all about their brains, it's all about their writing, that it's cheap or improper for them to have guys checking out their web pages just to ogle them.

That's bullcrap.

Yes sireebob and I’m sure Johnny reads Playboy for the articles.

Honestly, that piece is so stunning in its puerile inanity, it is hard to know where to start. But I think Beth covers the stupiboobty quite effectively.

And while a whole section of bloggerville feels like keeping the Fight Over Boobs and What.It.All.Really.Means as dominate discourse, truly serious issues get shoved to the side.

No where more obvious as the continued calls from Islamic governments and leaders across the world for the arrest of the Pope or his murder.

There should be no … none, nada, nyet … argument over radical Moslems as a mere “tiny minority” that have nothing to do with the majority of “peaceful moderates.” Whole swathes of the “Islamic” world are clearly demonstrating they believe the worldwide Caliphate is at hand. Islam as so clearly superior to any other religion that any perceived slight is to be met with violence. Yes, burning churches and shooting nuns is a reasonable reaction to the Pope.

Where were the Moslem condemnations over the gunpoint “conversion” of the Fox News team? Or any number of the continuing terrorist murders done in the name of Islam?

Keep arguing about boobs now and continue to ignore the threat at the door.

A threat that will make all these boobs arguments moot when the boobphobic, misogynist Moslems gain even more concessions from a flabby Western Civilization infested with suicidal multiculturalists.

Posted by Darleen at September 19, 2006 07:33 AM

Comments

Wow, I clicked over to Jill @ Feministe's post. I'm in awe of the willful ignorance in that post. Hers isn't even a laughably defensible position.

Did you see that article in the LAT yesterday from the (liberal, atheist, no fan o'Bush) guy who said liberals are weak on terrorism/ignoring the threat It was spot on. (I'm glad to see there's at least one REAL "liberal" with intellectual honesty left.) It's a perfect description of Jill's post.


Posted by: Beth at September 19, 2006 08:11 AM

A threat that will make all these boobs arguments moot when the boobphobic, misogynist Moslems gain even more concessions from a flabby Western Civilization infested with suicidal multiculturalists.

Frankly, I'm a little more worried about the boobphobic, misogynist fundamentalist Christians who have a tremendous amount of influence in our government right here.

Posted by: zuzu at September 19, 2006 08:18 AM

zuzu

Oh sweet Jesus. What are these scary Xtians going to do to you?

Write nasty letters? Write articles on their values? Boycott companies they feel dis them?

Come on. What "right" have they at ALL threatened?

The scary Xtain rant is right up there with the one that Jews have "too much influence" or "run" the government.

Posted by: Darleen at September 19, 2006 08:23 AM

Darleen: if you paid any attention at all to the news, you would realize that many states, under pressure from Christian leaders and lawmakers, are either chipping away at reproductive rights or outright banning all abortions (as in South Dakota). There's a bill before the House right now that would strip plaintiffs in Establishment Clause cases of the right to seek attorney's fees, which is an important component of civil rights cases due to the unequal resources of the government and private individuals. And who's responsible for this? Fundamentalist Christian lawmakers who don't like it when the ACLU challenges forced school prayer. And several states have passed laws which protect pharmacists who don't want to do their jobs and who want to substitute their own judgment for that of the patient's doctor because they don't think women should be able to have sex without consequences. And there are several states that, under the influence of fundamentalist Christians, are stripping gay couples of their ability to adopt children.

So, yes, I'm a little more concerned about this than about the remote possibility that my city might get hit with another terrorist attack.

Posted by: zuzu at September 19, 2006 08:38 AM

Actually, zuzu, the possibility is not so remote. It's amazing how, after five years, so many have slipped into such complacency. People thought the possibility of a devastating terrorist attack was pretty remote on 9/10/01 as well.

Abortion, abortion, abortion...that's all you care about. Yes, those scary Christians are far more of a threat than people who dream of a worldwide Caliphate and are willing to kill as many of us as they can to achieve it.

**shaking head**

Posted by: Susan B. at September 19, 2006 08:47 AM

zuzu

First off, abortion is not a "right" and the blame for 30+ years of intercine political warfare over it can be laid at the original "creative" ruling of Roe v Wade.

It was/is an issue that should be left to the states.

and the legal fees thing? Oh comeon. Quit the sob-sister thing over the ACLU using taxpayer money to pull Mafia-style rackets all over the country over tiny historical crosses in city/county seals.

I'm only surprised the ACLU hasn't filed suit against the whole state of California over the religious names of its cities...

San Francisco, Sacramento, Santa Maria, et al.

Let the ACLU use their own dime.

Posted by: Darleen at September 19, 2006 08:54 AM

Hope the Pope doesn't call for a new Crusade.

The one the Neocons and Mr Bush cooked up is bad enough.

The Crusaders used Medieval weaponry to try to re-impose Christianity on the Middle East; the Neocons use M1A1s in an attempt to impose Jeffersonian democracy on the area.

It didn't work in the Middle Ages and it's not likely to work now.

But tell that to a Neocon....

Posted by: Carl W. Goss at September 19, 2006 10:53 AM

First off, abortion is not a "right"

Wouldn't it be nice if, just by saying something, we could make it true? No argument required - thinking is just too hard.

I'm only surprised the ACLU hasn't filed suit against the whole state of California over the religious names of its cities...

You're probably surprised only because you don't understand the issue.

Yes, those scary Christians are far more of a threat than people who dream of a worldwide Caliphate and are willing to kill as many of us as they can to achieve it.

Willing, perhaps, but certainly not able. Invocation of the "worldwide Caliphate" is a pretty good sign of a shrieking hysteric who has abandoned rationality to fear.

Posted by: Josh at September 19, 2006 11:41 AM

Actually, zuzu, the possibility is not so remote. It's amazing how, after five years, so many have slipped into such complacency. People thought the possibility of a devastating terrorist attack was pretty remote on 9/10/01 as well.

Abortion, abortion, abortion...that's all you care about. Yes, those scary Christians are far more of a threat than people who dream of a worldwide Caliphate and are willing to kill as many of us as they can to achieve it.

Yes, I'm about to go out and get pregnant just so I can get another abortion. If I get two more, I get a free mocha.

Susan, there are a lot of religious nuts in the world. Including a lot who live right here and have made no secret of the fact that they want to have a Christian theocratic nation. I fear them more than I fear the people who want to have a Caliphate.

I live in New York City and work two blocks from a landmark. I ride the subway daily. I'm well aware that I'm walking around with a target on my back. I'm well aware that we're not safe from terrorists, and we won't be for a long time. But just because I have a sense of proportionality about the actual threat some guy in another country bears to me versus the threat that religious-nut Congressmen and Senators and Presidents bear to me right here doesn't mean I'm complacent.

Posted by: zuzu at September 19, 2006 03:14 PM

zuzu

Exactly who ARE these Xtian theocrats you are so frightened of? Are they strapping on bomb belts and blowing up tourists on the Pirates of the Carribean Ride? Did I miss the NYTimes news flash of them kidnapping some NPR reporters and making them accept Jesus at gun point?

Seriously, sometimes I enjoy your writing, but you're little meme about American Christians just looking to depose the Federal government and institute a theocracy makes you as completely unserious on this subject.

It's a feint. I recognize it as a feint. I also recognize that it is beyond stupid and it reflects more on you than on the Christians who oppose the few whacko cultists in the country.

Posted by: Darleen at September 19, 2006 05:52 PM

Yes, I'm about to go out and get pregnant just so I can get another abortion. If I get two more, I get a free mocha.

**sigh**

That's not what I meant, but I think you know that.

Susan, there are a lot of religious nuts in the world. Including a lot who live right here and have made no secret of the fact that they want to have a Christian theocratic nation. I fear them more than I fear the people who want to have a Caliphate.

And Josh calls me hysterical...

If I'm hysterical, at least I'm hysterical about an actual threat that has killed thousands here and elsewhere, rather than the exaggerated non-threat of supposed Christian theocrats.

Willing, perhaps, but certainly not able.

Perhaps not able now, but in the future, who knows. It will most likely happen gradually -- look at Europe. Death by political correctness.

Posted by: Susan B. at September 20, 2006 05:36 AM

Perhaps not able now, but in the future, who knows.

Good point. Let's freak out about everything bad that could possibly occur, no matter how silly.

actual threat that has killed thousands here and elsewhere

Oh, you're talking about specific acts of terrorism? Because your comment actually refers to some ridiculous caliphate that will never happen. One's reasonable to worry about, the other, not so much. Maybe you should think harder about what you're actually afraid of.

look at Europe. Death by political correctness.

True dat. I was in Italy last month - burkas everywhere!

This whole debate is pretty stupid. It's possible to be concerned about both Islamic terrorism and home-grown Puritans, something you and Darleen seem unable to grasp.


Posted by: Josh at September 20, 2006 07:34 AM