1984 Becoming a Reality?

Okay, I freely admit that the title of this post was purposely sensationalistic, but in all seriousness, is America becoming more and more Orwellian as time goes on, or am I crazy? Let's examine a couple of news stories:

http://outofbounds.nbcsports.com/2010/05/coach-fired-for-cell-pics.html.php

Jason Robinson, the 32-year-old head football coach at Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Fla., emailed sexually explicit video and pics of himself to his 20-year-old girlfriend, who is a student at the University of Central Florida. Somehow, the girl's mother intercepted the pics, which were sent to her daughter's cell phone. Mom then emailed them to the administrators at Robinson's high school, raising holy hell. The high school's principal, Dr. Donna Richardson, immediately fired the coach.

Wait, what? You can get fired for......what, exactly? Why the hell was he fired? He, on his own time, sent his (legal aged) girlfriend sexually explicit pictures. The woman's nosy mother somehow got a ghold of them, and sent them to the man's bosses. Who then fired the man.

Huh?

You can now be fired for personaly conduct that does not violate any rules or laws? The guy did nothing wrong. At all, and there's NO WAY he should lose his job, or face any consequences whatsoever. The only people in the wrong in this story are the mother (who needs to grow up, her daughter is 20 fucking years old) and the school principal, who I'm sure fired the guy based on an implicit gut reaction to what I am sure to her must seem like sexually deviant beahviour. Who wants to bet she's a "good christian woman" who found his personal, private actions (which were NONE of her business) "offensive?"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6406630/Man-arrested-for-making-coffee-in-own-home-while-naked.html

Eric Williamson, from Springfield, Virginia, was brewing coffee in his kitchen when a woman and a seven-year-old boy walked past the window and saw him. The woman complained to police who arrested Williamson shortly after the incident on Monday morning.

I think we all know of this story by now. A man is in his own home, naked, making imself an early morning coffee when a woman and her son are walking, through his yard, no less, look into his window, see him standing in his own kitchen naked, enjoying his coffee, and call the cops, who then arrest the guy.

So now the precedents have been set. You can be fired for 'sexting' your girlfriend on your own time, and you can be arrested for being naked in your own home, because someone might cut through your yard and see you, and then, god forbid, that person would run the risk of their son, who has a penis, seeing a penis and being traumatized for life by the sight of a penis. Well, actually, if the mothers wouldn't react as though there was something to freak out about, the kids wouldn't even react, let alone be truamatized. See, it's YOU, parents, who are the issue. I would LOVE for one of you soccer moms to explain to me just how and why the sight of a penis is/would be/should be traumatizing or in any way even distrubing/wrong/distasteful/harmful to a child, male or female. 

Our bodies are natural, unique, and ubiquitous. They were not "meant" to be covered up with clothing, and for the first x number of years of our existence, we walked around sans clothing. In some cultures, people still do so. And guess what? The kids are fine. There's nothing inherently wrong/dirty/bad/'sinful'/offensive etc about our boides, and if you wouldn't make a big deal out of nothing, that's what it would be: nothing. Without that idiotic, puritanical, irrational reaction common to middle aged, bored, in need of a good lay, religious soccer moms, the kids wouldn't even react.

You're creating the very problem you're woried about. YOU are the problem. YOU are creating the thing that you think you need to 'protect' your kids from. YOUR reaction is what causes the kid to think something 'bad' just happened.

Anyways, I got off on a bit of a tangent there. The point of this entry is not to decry the puritanical outlook on sex and nudity in America (although, if you are interested in reading my thoughts on that, you can do so by clicking the following link, which which will take you to a blog post entitled "Our Ideas Regarding Sexuality/The Body/Nudity Are Screwed Up." http://magx01.blogspot.com/2010/01/our-ideas-regarding-sexualitythe.html)

So, getting back to the topic at hand, is America becoming more and more something along the lines of what Orwell envisioned for the future in his seminal work, 1984, or am I reading too much into what amounts to a few obscure news stories? Are they even obscure? There have been a lot more than two stories along these lines as of late. Perhaps American society is slowly moving towards something like what Orwell envisioned in 1984. Maybe America is getting to the point where rigorous controls are in place to guide not only behaviour, but even thought. Or maybe that's nothing but alarmist b.s. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

What do you think?

OH! Before you make your decision, feast your eyes on this particular news story:

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/wis-da-threatens-arrest-for-local-sex-ed-teachers/19430578

A Wisconsin district attorney is urging schools to drop their sex-education programs, warning that the teachers involved could be arrested if they follow a new state law requiring them to instruct students on how to use condoms and other contraceptives.



In light of a letter from Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth, leaders at the five school districts in the county are evaluating what to do now, New Lisbon School District Superintendent Tom Andres told AOL News today.

The creepy looking fuck DA who's threatening teachers with arrest for teaching very useful and importnat information to teenagers. What the fuck is it with Americans and trying to criminalize sexuality? Anyone wanna guess what this dude's problem is? I wonder if it's jealousy? 'Cause there's no way that guy's getting any. He looks like a fucking serial rapist. (Yes, I know, there's no serial rapist look. I'm just lashing out at this asshole).

I know I could be accused of always trying to implicate religion in everything, but you'd be naive to think religion didn't have a hand in the criminalzation of sexuality and the guilt and shame around our boides (and masturbation, let's not forger that "dirty," shameful act). And, scanning the article, what do I find? This:

Andres, whose district is in a small rural area of Wisconsin, near Madison, said his teachers are already walking a tightrope in sex-education classes, being careful that the information they present is age-appropriate and respectful of various religious and family views. But, he added, the schools also must fulfill their responsibility to students.

That's the damn problem. Religion is given such an absurd amount of respect in the States that the truth has to be worked around the religion, rather than the other way around. Teachers, who need to teach the realities of life to their students, in an effort to equip them to deal with said realities (and in effect give them the best chance at success) need to worry about making sure no one is offended, and no one's religion is contradicted. They are being forced to mitigate the truth in an effort to protect the belief in bronze aged myths. I know that statement will piss some people off, but it needs to be said, and said again. We need to reiterate this point until it is finally driven home. The religious belief that you guys seem so desperate to protect/cater to is irrational, nonsensical bullshit that is having a real, tangible, negative effect on the society at large in terms of learning about the realities of life, whether it be sexual education or evolutionary theory.

Enough is enough.

.....Huh, guess I got on another tangent again, because this was supposed to bye about Orwellian practices, not catering to religion.

Oh well.