Those of us who watched the
last Republican debate learned a few things about the men who would be
president. Dr. Carson, when asked how he would choose a nominee for the Supreme
Court said he would look at the fruit salad of their lives. He may be brilliant
in an operating room, but the rest of the time he appears to exist in a rather
lizard-like torpor. That said, at least (unlike most of his fellow candidates)
he can act like a grown up in public.
You may have seen the moment
where things REALLY went to hell. That was when the person doing the closed
captions abandoned all hope and just put, “unintelligible yelling” on the
screen. The men who wish to convince us that they are the right candidate to
lead our nation (and handle the nuclear launch codes) were engaging in what
looked slightly less mannerly than a 3rd grade playground fight.
This is where the party of
Reagan has led us. Lo these many years, we’ve been hearing that gummint is bad,
and gummint is the problem, and we’ve elected people who ensured that it was
so. They invited the ill-behaved louts of the Tea Party into their bosom, and
the Tea Partiers showed their appreciation by taking over the party, and
kicking out anyone who retained any vestiges of sanity or reasonable behavior.
NH followed right along. Since then, we’ve watched as a variety of churls
shouted down Congresswomen at town hall meetings. We’ve seen them behave badly
in the legislature, and everywhere else they go. Recently the Carroll County Commissioners
had to deal with an outburst by a Wakefield resident. Steve Brown has been an
ongoing problem at the meetings. He’s a libertea guy and like so many of his
ilk, he is the center of the universe. He is all that exists, and he has the
right…nae the DUTY to say or do whatever crosses his mind at any given moment.
And so, when he was caught on tape simulating masturbation, the members of the
Commission decided that perhaps Mr. Brown should be compelled to develop some
impulse control, and that the Commission and others present, should not be
subjected to his lack of propriety and courtesy. Brown is a member of the
Wakefield School Board. Hopefully children don’t attend the meetings.
This week, Marco Rubio (a
candidate for President of the United States) made penis jokes about Donald
Trump (a candidate for President of the United States.) Also this week, the NH
House Criminal Justice and Pubic Safety Committee had a public hearing on HB
1525: relative to the circumstances that constitute indecent exposure and
lewdness. This bill was written in
response to the topless protests held last summer at Hampton Beach. A group of
women didn’t think their bodies should be considered obscene, and espoused the
view that they should be able to go topless at the beach. This is also the bill
that caused a dust-up back in December, when one of the original sponsors, Rep.
Josh Moore, tweeted at a female colleague his opinion that a nipple out in view
was fair game for grabbing. Rep. Moore has since removed himself from the bill.
It’s worth noting that Rep. Moore is a member of the House Education Committee.
The bill would make it a misdemeanor for a woman to show her breasts or nipples
“with reckless disregard” for whether it would offend someone.
The current sponsors of the
bill are Representative Brian Gallagher, a freshman legislator from Sanbornton;
Rep. Peter Spanos, a freshman legislator from Winnisquam; and Rep. George Hurt,
in his third term, from Gilford. All are Republicans. At the hearing, these men
warned the committee that if women can go topless at the beach, they’d soon be
topless at the library and at Little League games. (Do these guys ever even go
to the library?) They said that NH could lose tourism dollars if women wander
around in public with exposed breasts. Good point. No one goes to Europe any
more. All those topless beaches keep everyone away. One hopes these tender
legislative blossoms avoid Weirs Beach during Bike Week.
It’s almost amusing. Breasts
are used to sell nearly every product on the market – but heaven forfend you
should see one at the beach! Men spend their whole lives trying to catch a peek
at them yet now they’re all boogered up about the idea of seeing an uncovered
gland in public. The underlying message here is that women’s bodies are obscene
and must be covered. Women are perverts who will flaunt their dirtypillows at
the library! Women’s filthy bodies will drive away tourists! Keep those
reckless breasts under control! What a wonderful message these men are sending
to their own daughters and granddaughters. Perhaps next year all their
daughters can wear festive holiday burkas for the family Christmas card.
On the one hand, we have
Republican male presidential candidates making rude comments and jokes, and male
Republican elected officials simulating masturbation at public meetings. On the
other hand we have Republican male legislators who are so offended by women’s
bodies that they want to make it a crime to show a breast in public. Seriously? It sounds to me, as if you boys need to clean
up your own side of the street before you try anything big like governing.
What we ought to do is take a
cue from the Italians. Topless sunbathing is a matter of choice in Italy. It
is, however, against the law for men to touch their genitals in public. Italian
men do not paw at, grope, grab, or tug at their crotches in public. This law
was upheld by Italy’s highest court. From The Guardian: “The third penal division of the Rome court was having none of
it. It said that public genital-patting "has to be regarded as an act
contrary to public decency, a concept including that nexus of socio-ethical
behavioural rules requiring everyone to abstain from conduct potentially
offensive to collectively-held feelings of decorum".
That’s right. Men’s grabbing at their private parts is an act
contrary to public decency – not the showing of a nipple.
Next year perhaps a bold legislator will write THIS bill. The
women of the nation (and many men) will thank you.
Published as an op-ed in the March 4 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper
No comments:
Post a Comment