Victor Davis Hanson, Post Modern Prudes.
Victor Davis Hanson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Victor Hanson gives examples of social norms that seem to contradict themselves. His list of examples makes you think. How many more contradictions can you come up with. Read his article titled, “Postmodern Prudes”, at victorhanson.com. Here are a few excerpts from the article.
“Two states have legalized marijuana, with more to come. Yet social taboos against tobacco smoking make it nearly impossible to light up a cigarette in public places…….But legal cigarette smoking is now seen as a corporate-sponsored, uncool and dirty habit that leads to long-term health costs for society at large — in a way homegrown, hip and mostly illegal pot smoking apparently does not.”
“….news blackout for the trial of the macabre Dr. Kermit Gosnell, charged with killing and mutilating in gruesome fashion seven babies during a long career of conducting sometimes illegal late-term abortions. Had Gosnell’s aborted victims been canines instead of humans — compare the minimal coverage of the Gosnell trial with the widespread media condemnation of dog-killing quarterback Michael Vick — perhaps the doctor’s mayhem likewise would have been front-page news outside of Philadelphia.”
“Not since the late-19th-century juxtaposition of the Wild West with the Victorian East has popular morality been so unbridled and yet so uptight.”
“In short, we have become a nation of promiscuous prudes.”
Here is one that I think should be mentioned. Tim Tebow gets ripped in the media for talking openly about his faith, while Jason Collins gets praise for having the “courage” to come out about his sexuality. Who is more courageous, Tebow, who knows he will get ripped in the media for what he says, or Collins who knows the media will give him nothing but positive press stories.
How about a teenager being able to get the morning after abortion pill without a parents consent, but the same teen wouldn’t be allowed to take ibuprfen at school without a parents approval.
Feel free to add more.
Read this article, “After Obama”, also by Victor Davis Hanson.
Explore posts in the same categories: MiscellaneousTags: Kermit Gosnell, Legality of cannabis, Michael Vick, Morning After Pill for Minor, Statutory Rape, Tobacco smoking, Victor Davis Hanson
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AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT 
May 3, 2013 at 12:33 am
It kind of makes you wonder, if marijuana is ever legalized sufficiently to warrant a corporation going into business and making lots of money, will they then be demonized and hated? Personally, I don’t think so. Alcohol, is big business, and the case could be made that alcohol has killed more people than tobacco. But we’re ok with that because these mind altering drugs, as well as others, help dull the pain of meaninglessness.