That’s the definition of I-R-O-N-Y…………….
Bob Filner, the overly affectionate mayor of San Diego,
is currently under fire to resign over well-substantiated charges that he
sexually harassed dozens of women during the course of his official
duties. In a more elegant and sensible
age, he would have resigned in disgrace immediately and served as a useful
object lesson. But these are enlightened
times; so old Bob is not a creep – he’s sick – so it’s off to a mandatory
arse-covering stint in rehab, while desperately trying to cling to the office
he’s so completely disgraced. Turns out
the randy mayor is really a victim, and not a cad, bounder and lout. And if the poor guy doesn’t have enough
trouble, now he’s been banned from Hooters.
Really?
You bet. The San
Diego Hooters has banned the mayor for his loutish behavior and loudly
proclaimed its respect for women. One
can see their point – the mayor has shown himself to be the sort of scoundrel
who sees women mainly as a collection of body parts disposed for his personal
objectification and enjoyment, while their clientele is……well, you get the
point. People (mainly and overwhelmingly
men) do not go to Hooters for the overpriced alcohol and mediocre chicken
wings, they go to oogle young women dressed precisely to reduce them to a mass
of attractive body parts, rather than a human being of value. That a large part of this clientele is
composed of men old enough to be these unfortunate women’s fathers and
grandfathers only serves to make their hypocrisy all the more brazen and
galling.
In one sense, Bob Filner is a victim – or rather a
self-victim (as are we all), of a culture so thoroughly saturated in sexual
imagery and so formed by libertinism that one almost has to become Amish to
avoid it. In the past forty years,
American culture has become permeated with sexual imagery in a way previously
unknown. Social scientists of real note
(such as Mary Ann Layden, head of the University of Pittsburgh’s Sexual Trauma
and Psychopathology Program) have been relentlessly and quietly (the main
stream media will have none of it) documenting the awful toll of what has been
termed America’s “sexual obesity.” It’s
not just high-profile cases like Filner, Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner, or
even pedophilia scandals, or sexual sadism cases like Ariel Castro; this
problem permeates into the lives of everyday people – the national association
of divorce lawyers now reports that the use of pornography (and specifically
internet pornography) is a major, if not a sole cause of between 60 and 70
percent of divorce cases now being filed.
With the explosion of the internet, pornography has become accessible
and anonymous, leading experts to label it the “crack cocaine” of porn. Patrick Carnes, a leading researcher in sex
and pornography addiction, has chronicled the cycle of loss and despair –
increased usage leads to a toleration of material (rape, beastiality, child
porn) that would have previously repulsed the user. And, significantly (getting back to Bob
Filner), our pornographic culture leads people to believe that sexual activity
and extreme sexual behaviors are far more frequent and widespread than they
actually are.
No wonder old Bob is confused – he turns on his TV or
his computer and the overwhelming message is that everything and everybody is
either having sex or contemplating sex – little wonder he thought all those
women were just waiting for him to put the septuagenarian make on them. Don’t think it’s true? Try an experiment suggested by one
commentator: disconnect yourself from all media (including magazines and other
print material) for a week; and then after that week, go back with an eye to
material which has a sexual component – you’ll be astounded. Or just think about this little sampler:
There are successful reality shows based solely on
individuals famous for making sex tapes (Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian),
eventhough (as Barbara Walters famously challenged Kardashian) they have no
skills or talent.
The widely popular TV cartoon, Family Guy, features as
a reoccurring character, a pedophile, whose predation for young boys is often
portrayed comically and sympathetically.
We are now (in some parts of the country) teaching children
as young as in kindergarten, about the mechanics and aberrant varieties of
sexuality, as part of their education.
Still not convinced we’re a pornified culture? How about this ad, now playing on television:
Bob Filner is a lech and should resign in disgrace, but
he (and the Weiners and Spitzers and their legions of lesser-known compatriots)
and indeed all of us, are also caught in an Orwellian world where we’re told that everything is
sexual, and that sex can have no meaning beyond the act itself – and the actual
reality of sex and it consequences. Who
can swim in such a swamp?
