Monday, April 11, 2011

Re: [LA-F] Julia Sweeney: Sex Ed

Mayhaps

If you insist on my being serious and not telling sex jokes then I will say:

If you read Franklin's autobiography, required of college freshmen in the better American universities, you can see how utilitarianism may have led to the demise of American capitalism.  Franklin tells his son that you should marry old women instead of young ones, because they have money and can help you in business and society with their connections -- and you just have to turn off the lights or put a bag on their heads because the nether regions remain moist into middle age.  He was dispensing rather crude sex ed himself.

I just went to Monticello, for the first time in decades, in January (Jefferson's farm atop a small mountain near Charlottesville VA).  Jefferson, libertarian Enlightenment rationalist, had 600 slaves during his lifetime, including famously his lover Sally Hemmings.  (If anyone wants to go this summer when it is in flower just email me and I will join you -- I want to see the gardens -- TJ collected seeds from all over the world).  I asked the docent how many he freed and the answer was 7, 2 while alive and 5 at his death.  Unimpressive, n'est-ce pas?

It is possible he never freed any to shield them from creditors.  He seems to have never sold many either.  He kept families intact, and he was constantly in debt (importing French wine, optical and mechanical devices, and books, from Europe).  Apparently under the law at the time if he had freed slaves creditors could have seized them (and broken up families) to pay off his debts.  (Incidentally, proof that slavery was not economically productive or efficient -- Jefferson had two farms and 600 slaves and still could not produce enough to both feed them all and keep himself in the latest books and French wines.  At one point Congress bought his library, and it became the original Library of Congress -- and was originally housed at 224 2nd Street SE, which was in the 80s the headquarters of the Cato Institute.  He took the money and bought more books.)

TJ's daughter did not free Sally Hemmings, but let her go to town and work as a seamstress and keep her own earnings and rent her own house.  I wonder if that was because she was actually safer (eg from rape or robbery) as the property of an important family than she would have been as a free woman of color.

On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 6:47 PM, David> wrote:
 

Not to true English gentlemen; they are made of sterner stuff Bruce.
Anyway, I've just watched the HBO "John Adams", and I don't think that
Adams, Jefferson, Franklin and Washington were corned-beef inspectors, so
don't you think that American society has lost something since the time of
your 'Founding Fathers'?



David

David Robert Gibson
.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bruce Majors" <majors.bruce@gmail.com>
To: <libertarian-alliance-forum@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 11:35 PM
Subject: Re: [LA-F] Julia Sweeney: Sex Ed

>I will have to introduce your countrymen to them when I next visit
>
> On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 6:29 PM, David Robert Gibson <
> drgibson@btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> I certainly hope not!
>>
>>
>> David
>>
>> David Robert Gibson
>> .
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Bruce Majors" <majors.bruce@gmail.com>
>> To: <libertarian-alliance-forum@yahoogroups.com>
>> Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 11:25 PM
>> Subject: Re: [LA-F] Julia Sweeney: Sex Ed
>>
>> > they don't have rectal thermometers in the UK?
>> >
>> > On Sun, Apr 10, 2011 at 6:23 PM, David Robert Gibson <
>> > drgibson@btinternet.com> wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> Some of this might not be tasteful to tell children about, especially
>> the
>> >> bum banditry bit, what?
>> >>
>> >> David
>> >>
>> >> David Robert Gibson
>> >> .
>> >>
>> >> ----- Original Message -----
>> >> From: "Mario Huet LAF" <mario@libertarian.co.uk>
>> >> To: <libertarian-alliance-forum@yahoogroups.com>
>> >> Sent: Sunday, April 10, 2011 10:29 PM
>> >> Subject: Re: [LA-F] Julia Sweeney: Sex Ed
>> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > On 10/04/2011 17:59, Bruce Majors wrote:
>> >> >>
>> >> >> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> >> >> From: K
>> >> >> I did find this totally funny. :) But I also found it sad, and I
>> >> >> wanted
>> >> >> to
>> >> >> ask if other people on the list felt the same thing.
>> >> >>
>> >> >> The funnyness lies, I think, in how we all identify with her being
>> >> >> so
>> >> >> nerve-wracked about talking about sex, so embarrassed about things
>> >> >> like anal
>> >> >> sex or pornography. A lot of the questions to which she provided a
>> lie
>> >> >> or a
>> >> >> half-truth were simple, honest questions that ought to have
>> >> >> received
>> a
>> >> >> simple, honest answer. (How do gay men have sex? Where do we keep
>> >> >> our
>> >> >> eggs?
>> >> >> How do they get fertilized? Are there movies of humans mating on
>> >> >> the
>> >> >> internet?).
>> >> >>
>> >> >> I know she was only joking, and it's not like comedians have to
>> >> >> tell
>> >> >> the
>> >> >> truth, so I'm not blaming her. I guess I am blaming parents in
>> general
>> >> >> who
>> >> >> are too embarassed to say to direct questions, "Gay men have anal
>> >> >> sex
>> >> and
>> >> >> oral sex, and so do lots of straight people. Eggs are stored in our
>> >> >> ovaries
>> >> >> until they travel to the uterus to be fertilized. They get
>> >> >> fertilized
>> >> >> when a
>> >> >> man uses his penis to put sperm into the woman's vagina. That's
>> called
>> >> >> sex. And yes, it is on the internet. It's called internet
>> >> >> pornography."
>> >> >> How hard is that really?
>> >> >>
>> >> >> K
>> >> >>
>> >> > I watched the video and saw nothing to condemn in the woman's
>> >> > behaviour. She certainly didn't come across as at all hysterical,
>> >> > and
>> >> > the fact that she lacks enthusiasm in discussing such topics as anal
>> >> > sex
>> >> > with her eight-year-old daughter doesn't strike me as at all
>> >> > peculiar.
>> >> > As to this failing to conform with the notions of propriety of any
>> >> > third
>> >> > party, I'd say that's just too bad.
>> >> >
>> >> > --
>> >> >
>> >> > Mario Huet
>> >> >
>> >> > **********************************************
>> >> > Words cannot picture her; but all men know
>> >> > That solemn sketch the pure sad artist wrought
>> >> > **********************************************
>> >> > James Thomson, The City of Dreadful Night
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> > ------------------------------------
>> >> >
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>> >> >
>> >> > NB - The Libertarian Alliance does not necessarily approve of the
>> above
>> >> > message.
>> >> > Yahoo! Groups Links
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >> >
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>> >
>> >
>> >
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