Classical Values :: Poles apart

September 07, 2009

Poles apart

As one of those who has not (yet) been driven crazy by the prospect of Barack Obama delivering a propaganda lecture to the children, I'm finding it a bit hard to figure out how I fit into this analysis that Glenn Reynolds linked earlier:

The Silly Season ceases to be "silly" when what passes for political debate in America turns not merely stupid or witless, but certifiably demented.

I write of the kooky reaction of many conservatives--politicians, citizens and commentators in the media--to the plan by President Obama to address the nation's schoolchildren tomorrow. (And I write, please note, as a nonlefty libertarian who did not support Barack Obama in the presidential election.)

I haven't had time to go crazy. I mean, I can barely keep up with the pole dancing threat, and I was all set to write a post about that, but I didn't have time.

I dislike propaganda as much as anyone else, and there has been no shortage of it with this administration. I can certainly understand why people would not want their children indoctrinated, but sometimes I worry that the net effect of all the hysteria over "the children" might be making them more fragile than they really are.

It's like, I can understand why parents would see a pole dancer doll as a threat to the children, just like I can understand an Obama propaganda speech being a threat to the children, but aren't these kids going to have to grow up and leave home at some point? Aren't they American citizens, supposedly possessed of free minds and entitled to think for themselves? It's as if some people are seeing them as totally vapid, empty vessels, into which filth, obscenity, degradation and left wing propaganda are being poured, while their parents just sit there helplessly. And instead of raising and educating their kids the way they see fit, parents act as if they are victims along with their kids.

Now, I realize that this sounds as if I am complaining about people complaining, but there's something about the way they're complaining that I find a bit creepy.

While I agree with many of their political concerns, the parents who complain about Obama propaganda remind me a bit of the parents who organized against the ice cream threat. Or the condoms on bananas.

Or the pole dancer dolls. A number of people are up in arms about this alleged toy for tots -- which I can't find for sale anywhere, although I have looked diligently. I don't know whether the picture is a hoax*, but here it is:

Via Clayton Cramer, who posts this under "decline and fall of Western Civilization." He's by no means alone; in a post headlined "CULTURAL APOCALYPSE WATCH" Robert Stacy McCain says that "God owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology."

I don't mean to single out conservative bloggers, though. I am certain that many lefties -- especially feminists -- share in the outrage. A San Francisco Chronicle writer opines, simply, that

"This is the end of civilization as we know it.

I'm sorry to sound so dense, but how is it that Western Civilization can be brought down by dancing in conjunction with a pole? What is it that's doing this? Erotic dancing? Such dancing is hardly new. Does it have something to do with the pole? Is there something particularly erotic or dirty about a pole that I am missing?

There is of course erotic pole dancing, performed by strippers. Maybe I'm a square, but the only kind of pole dancing I've seen was in a bar while on a cruise ship, but these were just patrons, fully clothed and (so far as I could tell) they were just having fun. Pole dancing is also a recognized exercise, although that seems to be outside the popular construction of the narrative, which is that it's filthy, filthy, filthy.

My question is this: is there something particularly outrageous about a pole which does not obtain in its absence? Is it, um, phallic? Is that what's pissing all these people off?

Well what about the Maypole? Back in 2006, I took some pictures of a Maypole Dance on Mayday, but the young women were modestly attired, and the idea was to wind around the pole and wrap it with ribbons.

And does it matter whether the doll that has outraged so many people in fact exists? Or is it one of those situations where it might it as well have? I can't find it anywhere, but anyone can make anything, and there is this more adult-looking version I found here:

There are also antenna pole dancers for truckers and manly men types to put on their vehicles.

But as I say, anyone can make anything. I could create a box top showing two leather guys engaged in S&M/B&D and call it "THE ADAM AND STEVE FOLSOM STREET DOLL FOR CHILDREN."

Why should it be that easy to bring about the end of Western Civilization? Should "we" make it harder?

And how come the same result doesn't obtain in Tokyo?

Seriously, if American children are so abjectly helpless against the threat of a pole dancing doll, I don't think it's the pornographic doll -- or even a speech to children -- that's the threat to Western Civilization. I think the greater threat is posed by Western Civilization being in a constant state of readiness to fall.

And I'd say that even if the president puts a condom on a banana during his propaganda lecture.

* Some have opined that the pole dancer doll is a hoax, with one blogger going so far as to say that

"Yes, the pole dance doll is distasteful and inappropriate for little girls, but the real issue here is whether this doll even exists. (There might be hope for society if it doesn't.)

Hope for society?

Let's not get carried away. It didn't take much effort for me to find bondage kewpie dolls:

OTOH, it's only fair to point out that it was the evil, decadent, fallen nature of the West that helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Union, so maybe filth is more powerful than we realize.

What if falling is contagious?

posted by Eric on 09.07.09 at 11:10 AM

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://classicalvalues.com/cgi-bin/pings.cgi/8744

Comments

Pole dancing is commonly associated with sex and dirty dancing. The little girls toys as a pole dancer is to make it glamourous to little girls and sexualizes little children.We have enough pedopholia not to encourage more. That is why if a toy manufacturer that targets children as its market thinks it ok to market poledancer dolls to little girls, their morals have fallen.

Now we can hope there is no market.

I have childern and I was constantly surprised how teenage girls at a private school aspired to the heights of being a whore or slut. Generally being a whore, slut or prostiture is a very low social class. It genersally means that the female has no other skills other than her body to sell.

Now there are expensive call girls that are educated and find prostiitution is a profitable way to make a living, but they are small in number compared to the street girls who have a short and brutal life.

Anonymous · September 7, 2009 02:08 PM

The doll, if it's a real toy, looks like something aimed at four to seven year olds. Most toys for that age group are purchased by adults. If this is a real thing, and you don't want your daughter to play with it, don't buy it. I have done no research, but like our host Eric, think this is a hoax.

High school girls who aspire to whore and slutdom, especially upper middle class girls, are most likely doing so out of rebellion. I seriously doubt the girls anonymous writes about are wanting to become actual prostitutes. Dressing like a skanky ho probably gets quite a rise out of the parental units. YMMV however.

Janet C · September 7, 2009 04:19 PM

I don't have any children in the public school system, and I am a libertarian, but even I was weirded out by the latest Obama stunt.

Seen by itself, Obama's speech to the kids isn't particularly troubling. However, evaluate the entire exercise in its proper context. First, we have the long-winded, vapid speeches that manage to pack a whole lot of nothing into marathon sessions (think Castro and Chavez). Second, there is the messianic narrative and iconography peddled by his followers (think Jesus). Third, we have the evident narcissism of the man (think Mussolini). (I mean, seriously, what normal person do you know who sticks his nose so far up in the air when talking to people?) When seen in this context, conservatives can be excused for getting a "Dear Leader" vibe from the whole thing.

This guy's credibility is shot to hell, so many people are now suspicious of EVERYTHING this man does. That includes me, by the way: If Obama told me the sky was blue, I'd have to look out the window -- twice.

Oscar · September 7, 2009 05:26 PM

I have an 8 y/o grand daughter, that I am raising. I have never allowed her to watch tv other than Disney and Nick Jr. Where I made my mistakes is not watching them with her the last few years, as I did previously. I Carly, Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers are her favorite programs...gone are Dora and Sponge Bob. I didn't really pay attention (my big error) to until about the last year when she asked for DVDs of them. I decided before I bought them that I would watch the programs on TV. I was surprised that they were shows for teens and they were on so early on our cable system.

I watched them and for teens I would say that they are OK, not good, but just OK. But for my sweet Sarah at 8, they were inappropiate and I should not have been allowing her to watch them.

Also worth a mention is the stuff she brings home from school from other students. Hip-Hop, dance steps and moves more suited to strip clubs, phrases and words that no kid should be saying let alone an 8 year old.

OH...one shock from the School. She was in a Church/School Play (as in a church somewhat like the one Obama claimed he never listened to) and the dance and song that they had these young 7-8-9 year olds doing was straight off the hip-hop MTV streets.

I never even considered that stuff would be happening under school and church supervision.

I talked to the principle and she said it was just the way things were "NOW".

If I could afford it and was able, she would be home schooled. As it is I have to just make sure I talk with her and try and instill values that will somehow...maybe...protect her.

Papa Ray
P.S.
OH... when one of her girlfriends was over for a sleep-over I caught them on the computer looking at teen porn. She was suitability punished and I wanted to know how she got by the security I had set up for that and she said she didn't know because her friend did it.

8 Years Old....

Like my Dad and his Dad said:

"The world is going to Hell in a handbasket!!"

Papa Ray

Papa Ray · September 7, 2009 06:28 PM

I forgot to include this about Obama's speech to the kids.

I tried counting the number of times he said "I" and gave up at fifty.

And his extortionist manner for them to study and do something when they grew up were OK, until I read this paragraph:

"You�ll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You�ll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You�ll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy."

Yea, what kind of jobs to boost our economy? If you read that paragraph, it sounds like a community organizer's job or a government worker's job or some "Green" Company that can suck Nanny's tit to stay in business.

Papa Ray · September 7, 2009 06:58 PM

hahaha, Eric, you are the best. I'm in favor of everyone else's daughter sucking cock.

To all those who feel morality can be legislated-- fuck off.

dr kill · September 7, 2009 07:12 PM

dr kill: yours, presumably? But not appropriate for your own daughter? Some might call that hypocrisy...

Me? Oh, I have no objection to any of this. Morality can in fact be legislated - you see this happen in theocracies all over the world all over time - you are better off asking whether it *should*.

Here's an idea: legalise prostitution. And lower the age of legal accountability (including consent, trial as adult, drinking, joining the army, entering workforce etc) to 13. Back in the mid-90s, the 14-17 age group committed almost 30% of all homicides. Maybe we're doing adolescents a disservice by simultaneously treating them both as kids and adults, and we should stop.

Gregory · September 8, 2009 04:40 AM

Civilization is always ready to fall. It takes a lot of maintenance to keep it going.

The real threat is when a significant part of Western Civilization is actively working for the fall of that civilization.

M. Simon · September 8, 2009 12:16 PM

And those actively working for the fall? Those who do not understand economics. Those who do not understand that energy is the foundation of civilization. i.e. mostly lefties.

M. Simon · September 8, 2009 12:19 PM

The extent to which morality is an individual thing or a communitarian thing seems to be in dispute. (To a communitarian, whether I am immoral is determined not by what I do, but by what I would have others do.)

Eric Scheie · September 8, 2009 12:24 PM

I'm skeptical of the view that sex makes civilizations fall.

Eric Scheie · September 8, 2009 12:28 PM

Papa Ray,

I generally took a hands off approach to raising my kids. No internet filters ever.

#2 Son Graduate of the University of Chicago with Honors.
#3 Son Studying Electronic Engineering
#1 Daughter Studying Engineering (hasn't picked a major)

#1 Son has some major medical problems

My kids turned out fine (the closest my daughter ever came to slut-wear was a modestly low cut top on Prom Night).

===

My theory - unless a child has been molested the idea of sex (before puberty) disgusts them. After puberty you can't stop them. I also think masturbation is superior to insemination. YMMV.

M. Simon · September 8, 2009 01:19 PM

Morality can in fact be legislated - you see this happen in theocracies all over the world all over time

And such legislation is essential in creating black markets.

M. Simon · September 8, 2009 01:24 PM

M. Simon: Which I also don't have a major problem with, really. Black markets, I mean. Not the most efficient method of allocating resources, though. Actually, I was just going OCD over grammar.

And believe me, unless I as a guy underwent puberty at the age of six, children are NOT necessarily disgusted by sex (or idea thereof) before puberty. Of course, back then I was shooting blanks, but still...

Gregory · September 8, 2009 09:32 PM