Wednesday, June 21, 2017

American Exceptionalism?

By Jeff Simpson



For those of us old enough to remember 1994, Attorney General Dr. Joycelyn Elders, was forced to resign by Bill Clinton, for answering the following question honestly:

In 1994, she was invited to speak at a United Nations conference on AIDS. She was asked whether it would be appropriate to promote masturbation as a means of preventing young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity, and she replied, "I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught."[citation needed] This remark caused great controversy and resulted in Elders losing the support of the White House. White House chief of staff Leon Panettaremarked, "There have been too many areas where the President does not agree with her views. This is just one too many."[1] In December 1994, Dr. Elders was forced to resign by President Clinton.[1][13][14] 
The honest answer, that people masturbate as part of their sexuality, was too much for the folks in Washington D.C. to handle!  Apparently they were not aware of Cyndi Lauper ten years earlier!

Fast forward now to present day, and it appears there is nothing that can be said by a politician that anyone seems to care about.   Well a Republican politician anyway.

In an era where we elected a pussy grabbing, philandering, reality tv "star" as President, we have lowered the bar so low, that it is impossible to get under it.

We have GOP Congressman, accusing a former President of being a serial killer, others in the GOP giddy over a GOP Congressman getting shot, an elected GOP rep, sent a letter to the boss of one of his detractors in an effort to punish her for criticizing him, that poor children in schools be forced to sweep floors to earn lunch, believes men should not have to pay for prenatal care, says that single mothers are a form of child abuse,  a 300 lb white Congressman complained that Michelle Obama's butt was too big,  a GOP candidate beat up a reporter the night before an election and not only won, but people all over the country sent him hundreds of thousands, you get the idea....

In a special election in Georgia, GOP Karen Handel, let us know that she thinks it should be illegal for LGBTQ people to adopt children.



American exceptionalism?   Is this the best we can do? Is this who we are?

2 comments:

  1. Bill would have been better off if he had taken her advice on that subject... Just sayin.

    ReplyDelete
  2. > "... that poor children in schools be forced to weep floors to earn lunch..."

    I'll venture a guess, this was not the word you meant.

    ReplyDelete