To See or Not To See, That Is The Question

In case you hadn’t heard, the American Family Association is trying to force their narrow minded ideals on visitors to the Overland Park Arboretum. Apparently the AFA, on behalf of a woman with nothing better to complain about, has taken offense at one particular statue. Specifically, the statue is of a headless woman wearing nothing but a button shirt, open, bare breasts, taking a “selfie” of herself.

The story goes that Joanne Hughes (I’m giving her name because it’s emblazoned across the AFA website) was walking through the arboretum when Joanne and family “were shockingly confronted with a bronze sculpture of a headless woman with aroused, naked breasts, taking a picture of herself” (direct quote from the AFA web site).Because they are apparently afraid of the human body and only procreated through a bedsheet in total darkness, Mrs. Hughes filed complaints to have the statue removed so that nobody would have to be affronted by such a spectacle. Needless to say, the OP city council said, “BAH!” and left the statue. The AFA has tried to collect signatures for a petition and has yet to be successful in garnering the required number. I guess not enough people are that worried over a sculpture of a headless naked woman.

What I find amusing is that there are other statues there which could be considered offensive as well, but aren’t. There’s a statue of an obese woman wearing a mini skirt and behind held aloft by a thin man. The woman’s bare backside is clearly visible to anyone walking down the path.

Another is of a nude infant male, anatomically correct, standing in an oval design.

Neither of these are mentioned, just the one of bare breasts. I have a whole rant about breasts in our society, but that’s for another day. Suffice it to say complaining about bare breasts but not a naked baby or a bare behind is, in my opinion, rather petty. The above complaint is supposedly about protecting children from such obscenities, but this is obnoxious. Choosing one statue to complain about while ignoring others shows a narrow-minded fixation which makes me wonder what her problem with breasts is.

Now, to be fair, I know not everyone considers such things as “art.” There are many things I don’t consider “art” but I’m told by those who supposedly know better that it is. However, my opinion is for me. I don’t see that I have any right to tell anyone else what they can and cannot like. And I know not everyone wants to see nudity, even if it is a sculpture or painting or such and not actual real live nudity. And that’s fine. I can appreciate that. But forcing your opinion onto everyone is not the way to handle it. Instead of demanding this statue be removed, trying using it as a teaching tool. If you’re worried it will encourage children to do the same thing, use it as an example of what not to do. Just don’t tell me what I can and cannot see. Let me decide for myself what is offensive to me.

If you’re concerned with your child learning to be “of immoral character,” use it as an example of how not to behave. Rather than be afraid your child might see bare breasts, teach them the human body is not sinful or shameful. And if you can’t manage any of those, then simply avert your eyes when you walk down that path. You can have your beliefs and your version of what you consider to be moral. Teach your children to be afraid of nudity.

Who's Sorry Now?

Okay, I have openly admitted I am a registered Republican. I do tend more toward the Moderate rather than Conservative, but still mainly on the Right. However, my main focus is Equality. I've tried to make that painfully clear: I don't care which side you're on, if you condemn someone for doing something, you should refrain from doing that same thing. If you want to be treated as an Equal, you should act as an Equal.

Most of us are very familiar with what happened in Tuscon last month; the shooting of Rep Giffords and killing of innocent people was definitely a tragedy. The media coverage of that was deplorable. Immediately, the Liberal-biased media blamed the Tea Party and Conservatives in general, and Sarah Palin in particular, for essentially brain-washing the man that pulled the trigger. Hatred and death threats were called out from these so-called "Progressives", demanding vengeance. Nothing was said by the Liberal Media at that point about the hypocrisy of these threats.

This month we have Gov Scott Walker trying to balance the budget in his state of Wisconsin. He called for cuts made to unionized employees, and the unions (and their workers) are literally up in arms about it. People from all over converged on the State Building in protest, and doctors were out distributing excuse notes so these people wouldn't get in trouble from their employers for having a major walk-out. Teachers left the classroom and took their classes with them, forcing the students to participate in a protest they weren't involved in. People from other states arrived in support of these protests.

That, however, isn't what I'm concerned with at this point. I'll save it for another rant. Right now, what concerns me is the lack of coverage from the Liberal Media about the death threats being made against Gov. Walker. There's a video on YouTube of a number of Tweets, people calling for the death of Gov. Walker, and in at least one case actually threatening to kill him. This information has only been found on the Conservative-biased Media, Fox News, and some blogger sites. It scares me to think of how many others aren't listed in this short video but still call for the death of a governor simply trying to balance his state's budget. How many of these people don't even know what's really going on, but simply following the popular outcry of the moment? How many of these people would deny any involvement if something should happen to the governor?

More and more, there are cases of "Do as I say, not as I do" on both sides of the political struggle. Liberals denouncing Conservatives for actions the Liberals themselves are doing, in both physical and verbal form. Conservatives doing the same song and dance routine with the Liberals. Nobody willing to take responsibility and govern themselves. We have people killing each other over some of the most ridiculous reasons: what to watch on TV, who's a better singer on the radio, which political party is right. Violence is becoming more and more the FIRST option, rather than a last resort. Allowing things such as these death threats to go unreported is, in my opinion, negligence on the part of the media. Doing so simply because they're against a Conservative and most of the media tends to support the Liberal view is criminal negligence. Should someone decide to follow through on these threats, who would the Liberal Media blame? How would they feel knowing these threats are out there and nothing is being done about them? How would YOU feel if you knew someone was making death threats against someone you disagreed with, and you did nothing about it? Whatever happened to "United We Stand"? Seriously, with all the rioting taking place in other countries, and the protesting going on here, how long until we see the violence escalate into rioting here?