Posted on 12/29/2008 8:05:34 AM PST by NYer
So I took the kids out to the mall to shop for Mom two days before Christmas. I want them to know that Christmas is not just about receiving but giving as well.
Now let me ask a weird hypothetical. If I showed up at the Mall wearing only briefs and say my wife showed up in a minuscule bra and panties we'd likely be dragged from the premises and arrested. And rightly so, especially if you've seen me in briefs. But no matter what, it's bad, right? So why is it OK for some of these stores to have huge window displays of essentially naked people. I mean, are these store owners out of their minds. Walking by Abercrombie or Victoria's Secret is essentially a walking tour of porn for children. Hey kids step on up and peer inside the sick twisted mind of adulthood where we view others as vessels of flesh waiting to be boarded and devoured.
It's lunacy.
So as we're passing a bunch of sex-soaked stories, I do my best to distract the kids from the window display. I start singing a loud Christmas carol and they all become embarrassed by me and try to stop me from singing anymore. So for anybody who saw the fat bearded dad singing in front of a ten foot porn window display with children laughing and climbing all over him, it was me.
But here's the thing. I know my kids saw it. They didn't mention it. But I know they see it. They see it. They internalize it. They think that window display represents the realm of adulthood. They intuit that adults desire 8-pack abs and 38 D breasts. And kids want to be adults.
Here's the truth. If a man was caught showing pictures of topless women in pink underwear holding their breasts or men in wet briefs, they'd be arrested. But when a store does it, it's capitalism.
So a few hours later I'm making the call I never thought I'd make in my life. I call the mall two days before Christmas to complain about the lewd window displays. The funny thing is that while I'm on hold I'm feeling like I'm the crazy one. I'm feeling like "I can't believe I've become the guy who complains about lewd window displays." I didn't think I'd ever use the word 'lewd' never mind call to complain about aforementioned lewdness. I'm feeling like I have to convince this guy on the phone that I'm not one of these crazy religious Jerry Falwell types. But then it hits me. I'm the sane one. Those displays are crazy to have in front of children. So instead of getting into a morality type conversation with the guy I just decide to speak his language. "I'm just calling to let you know that my family which comes to the mall often will not come back unless you guys stop allowing pornographic window displays."
So I make the call and I'm feeling proud of myself. And I walk back into the room where the children are watching The Polar Express on ABC Family. And then comes a commercial about some show about a fifteen year old girl who is pregnant. "Fifteen!?" says my nine year old.
"How can you have a baby if you're not married," asks my six year old.
They all look at me. "Hey guys Polar Express is back on!" And thanks to my amazing powers of distraction I muddled through yet another awkward moment. But I know my kids. Nothing escapes them. Questions build. They never fade away.
And we wonder why are children are ending up sexualized. It's simple. Somewhere between the Merry-go-Round and the pretzels they're seeing and interpreting the adult world. They're unprotected out there. The adults want too much to be like children and the children want to be adults. It's time for adults to start acting like adults.
It’s a difficult issue just the way “gay rights” are a difficult issue. They (all) claim they want tolerance, they demonize the side who want traditional morality to be the cultural default, and they push and push and push to have the norm become more and more degraded, all the while claiming victim status, and that anyone opposed to surrendering to their agenda is Taliban-like.
They do not want to be tolerated, NOR do they want to tolerate us. They want total domination of the culture. THAT’S why it’s an issue.
I am not saying that every poster here, for instance, has that extreme view. But the movers and shakers have that mindset, in spades.
The only solution is to be the example of rising above it all. Children will see that and learn , and later in life appreciate real happiness. Even though they will make mistakes, they will rise above it all and will most likely raise their own happy family.
In the mall? Which mall has a church or cathedral?
Why can’t the people who want to see the porn go off in their little corners and do it behind closed doors, like the liberals want Christians to do with religion?
Like Libby Lu's where they try to turn little girls into prostitots.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, even if it is wrong.
The sexualization of children is going to result in the continuation of the breakdown of our culture.
Children do NOT need to be exposed to that kind of adult behavior. And then people wonder why young adults look at each other as not much more than slabs of meat, someone they can have sex with for one night and not even know their name.
They do not want to be tolerated, NOR do they want to tolerate us. They want total domination of the culture. THAT’S why it’s an issue.
*******************
I think you're really on to something here. After thinking about the comparison, it seems apt. Both groups, the pro-pornography and homosexuals demand society accept their behaviour without restraints. They use some of the same tactics in attempting to repudiate their opponents concerns, and both display immature attitudes.
Both are consumed with the self, and reject God.
Kinda like how Elvis cause the collapse of Western Civilization cause he moved his hips..
Right, we must retreat.
Don't like what Obama or Barney Frank are doing in Washington? Find another country, right? Don't like your neighbor walking around naked? Sell your house and move to another neighborhood, right? Don't like the fact that homosexuals can marry in your state? Move to a different state.
Question: what happens when there are no other malls to which to go? What happens when there are no other countries to which to flee? What happens when there are no other neighborhoods and no other states? What happens when the moral decay is universal? What happens when the barbarians have taken over everything?
What do we do then? Curl up under a rock?
Yours is precisely the type of response which those who push the envelope of moral turpitude count on. That those who still have principles will not stand and fight but will instead fall back and retreat. Obviously, as this process is repeated, those who are forced to "look for another mall" become hemmed into progressively smaller enclaves as the filth expands.
Sorry, we don't want to have to find a "different mall", OK? We want to go to this one. And if it's not the way we like it, we'll try and do something about it. As is our right.
The libertines may win for a while but it will be after a long and bitter fight. And in the end, the economic bankruptcy in this country which mirrors its moral bankruptcy, will close down these trashy malls.
>>Little kids are self-centred barbarians. It takes years of education to make them ready for life in society. <<
Noooooo, children are our offspring, the God given gift of our future. You see them as a burden, so shown by your self-centered interest in your child but no other. You may not want to see it, but they ARE part of society.
Spend a few more years in the USA before you wave your hand and declare “self-centered little brats” are taking over our country. Meet some nice conservative parents outside of DC.
Europeans and liberals see children as a burden. Turn them over to the state and let me have my ski vacations and spa time. We are different. We love our children enough to keep them children, keep them with us and teach them to be fine adults.
I’m not impressed with the European way.
I agree. But if you don’t want your children corrupted you have to avoid such things as pop culture. The mall is the epitomy of pop culture.
******************
Me, either.
Which is it?
Can you not understand what you propose is completely unrealistic?
Parents are supposed to cherry-pick an increasingly narrow scope of life to try and raise their kids sans the perverse in their face?
How do you recommend these “lazy” parents negotiate this increasingly cluttered minefield?
And whatever happened to the rights of families to enjoy a reasonable, no sexual explicitness, no sleaze along the mainstream of life?
This is exactly what second hand smoke rights protection is about.
Do want you damn well please—but do it somewhere where it does not pollute my world, my lungs, my health and my brain.
I’m actually in favor of red light districts. That includes red light cyber districts like dot.porn extensions—with firm restrictions for use and trafficking of content.
That means OFF THE MAINSTREAM.
Wow. Great post!
>>Me, either. <<
They think we should be though!
I don’t suggest you retreat. I’m not one to retreat (as evidenced by my continued presence in this thread). Stand up for what you believe in, just don’t expect everyone else to roll over when you come in swinging your sword of moral superiority. More often than not, the sword of moral superiority meets the shield of logical solutions to problems.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.