Confused about Bare Breasts
In the past several days, there has been a giant commotion about the super bowl half-time show. Almost all of it focused on the bare breast of a female entertainer. It has been touted as obscene and something the youth of America should not be confronted with. I am confused by this.
There is a bill in the United States Congress right now to make it not only legal, but also the right of women to bare their breasts to feed infants in public (H.R. 1848). If this bill passes look forward to seeing bare breasts everywhere you go. If a mother of an infant has the right, why not any woman?
For years, women have been fighting for the same rights as men, including going topless in public. The United States is one of the few nations in the world that still has a stigma attached to the human body, yet we are the world’s bastion of freedom and human rights. Human nature is one of curiosity; things, which are commonplace, have little mystery or appeal to us. Only the unknown seems to peak our interest. Hide something from view and everyone wants to see it.
On one hand, the freedom to bare one’s body is a human right. Yet, if these changes come about, what will be next? Just where will it stop? Could we be redefining the meaning of casual Friday? It is the responsibility of society to set equal and equitable standards for all its citizens. Today we seem to have two major groups of believers, those who want everything to be free and others that want to turn back the clock a hundred years or more. The rest of us are stuck in the middle somewhere.
Many say the moral fiber of this nation is rotting. What do you think would have happened a hundred years ago if a woman had walked down a public street showing her ankle? Today you can see almost anything in public that years ago were forbidden. In the 1950’s and 1960’s they could not even show a bra modeled by a woman on television. Yet, anyone could go to beaches at a lake or the ocean and see bikini clad bodies all day long. Is this just the natural evolution of a society, or something more? In some other cultures a woman must keep her face covered when in public, we think them to be backward and repressive. Are they correct and is it us that is wrong? Are we progressing, regressing or just a degenerating society?
For centuries, society has banned the showing of body parts, yet people always wanted to see them. This ban created a whole industry call pornography. The porn of years ago is now commonplace. Is this the enlightened progression of our society to view the body as natural? Or the degrading of the very moral fabric we deem wholesome?
Some of the greatest art treasures on earth are portraits or sculptures of the naked body. Were these artists depraved and the admirers of today, pornographers? Or is our understanding of the beauty of the human body once again becoming vogue. Artisans of the ancient world produced numerous items portraying the bare human form, which the aristocracy proudly displayed. The very cultures our society is based upon, Greece and Rome were great fans of this type of art. Artworks of common life in antiquity have shown the female form proudly displaying their breasts in every day activities and at festive celebrations. Are the very roots of our society and culture depraved and corrupt?
Changes in a society can be rapid or slow, but always irritating to some, painful to others. To honor self-respect and the standards of the masses has always been the bane of radical changes. Look at the civil rights movement in our own past, to this fact. History shows change will not stop, but always takes place, even when it is not wanted.
Breast augmentation/reduction is the number two cosmetic surgery, just behind facials, i.e. facelifts, in the United States. If we are so adamant that breasts should be hidden, then why are so many respected surgeons making it their life’s work and being well paid for it?
Now for the most confusing part of the whole super bowl half-time show, the flag. We have standards on how the nation’s flag is made, cared for and displayed. I find it un-American to disgrace our national symbol. Patriots consider this treasonous.
This type of display shows a depraved indifference to the very essence of our nation. It is a blatant sign of self-loathing and hatred of this country. The flag is NOT just a multi-colored rag to be used in any fashion one deems fit.
Congress considers a bare breast as something they need a law to regulate, to legally display in public. Yet they refuse to regulate what someone can do to our flag, the symbol of our nation. What is so terribly wrong with this country that they not only allow, but applaud the degradation of old glory? Is there a deep underlying hatred of ourselves that feeds this need to dishonor the flag and nation? Is our governing body so out of touch with reality that a breast is more important than the national image and its banner?
Shortly after 9/11, no one would have even thought about burning a flag or ripping it to shreds and wearing it. Some people did drape themselves in the flag but only out of respect, complete, everlasting, and filled with honor. Have we forgotten so soon? The flag has always been a rallying point, is it not now? Wearing the flag should be done with all respect due the flag and the nation it stands for.
Throughout our history, there have been many disagreements about the flag, starting with its very creation. Once this honored banner of the United States of America was finally established, fighting members of our military died to keep it flying and never touch the ground. The very sight caused pride and inspiration to Francis Scott Key to pen the ‘Star Spangled Banner’. In schools, we pledged our allegiance to it. Remember, it starts out…I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States Of America.
We have men and women in our armed forces dying daily, this very minute, to safeguard this symbol of our nation. Would you go to their funerals and spit on the flag draped over their coffins? Go to the parents or loved ones, grieving over their loss and slap them in the face? Would you tell them they were stupid for raising or loving someone so inept that they died for a scrap of cloth? Go to the site where the twin towers once stood and urinate on this hallowed ground, where thousands perished, because they believed in the country this flag symbolizes?
We stand when the flag passes in a parade, yet do nothing when someone rips it to shreds. Can we be so jaded by our personal freedoms that we forget what this flag stands for? Does the suffering and pain generations have endured to keep this symbol the standard of freedom mean nothing?
This country is ever evolving to make life better for its citizens, yet we fail to safeguard our very symbol. Displaying a bare breast in public, or the dishonoring of the flag, which is more important? Why should we chastise the human body and applaud the undermining of our nation? Just what is the moral fiber of this nation and its people? What legacy are we leaving the next generation?
Many thousands died to make and keep this nation whole, and have one flag fly proudly over its capital. Are we now going to have their sacrifice be in vain? If this is truly the will of the people, then turn out the lights. Close the country down! We deserve anything and everything the closed and narrow-minded wish to mete out to us. Freedom’s brightest beacon will have gone out and darkness takes us all.
We are Americans; take pride in yourself, as you are this country. The flag is the symbol of YOU.
If you live in this country, have pride in it and the symbol that stands for it.
Ed Williams
There is a bill in the United States Congress right now to make it not only legal, but also the right of women to bare their breasts to feed infants in public (H.R. 1848). If this bill passes look forward to seeing bare breasts everywhere you go. If a mother of an infant has the right, why not any woman?
For years, women have been fighting for the same rights as men, including going topless in public. The United States is one of the few nations in the world that still has a stigma attached to the human body, yet we are the world’s bastion of freedom and human rights. Human nature is one of curiosity; things, which are commonplace, have little mystery or appeal to us. Only the unknown seems to peak our interest. Hide something from view and everyone wants to see it.
On one hand, the freedom to bare one’s body is a human right. Yet, if these changes come about, what will be next? Just where will it stop? Could we be redefining the meaning of casual Friday? It is the responsibility of society to set equal and equitable standards for all its citizens. Today we seem to have two major groups of believers, those who want everything to be free and others that want to turn back the clock a hundred years or more. The rest of us are stuck in the middle somewhere.
Many say the moral fiber of this nation is rotting. What do you think would have happened a hundred years ago if a woman had walked down a public street showing her ankle? Today you can see almost anything in public that years ago were forbidden. In the 1950’s and 1960’s they could not even show a bra modeled by a woman on television. Yet, anyone could go to beaches at a lake or the ocean and see bikini clad bodies all day long. Is this just the natural evolution of a society, or something more? In some other cultures a woman must keep her face covered when in public, we think them to be backward and repressive. Are they correct and is it us that is wrong? Are we progressing, regressing or just a degenerating society?
For centuries, society has banned the showing of body parts, yet people always wanted to see them. This ban created a whole industry call pornography. The porn of years ago is now commonplace. Is this the enlightened progression of our society to view the body as natural? Or the degrading of the very moral fabric we deem wholesome?
Some of the greatest art treasures on earth are portraits or sculptures of the naked body. Were these artists depraved and the admirers of today, pornographers? Or is our understanding of the beauty of the human body once again becoming vogue. Artisans of the ancient world produced numerous items portraying the bare human form, which the aristocracy proudly displayed. The very cultures our society is based upon, Greece and Rome were great fans of this type of art. Artworks of common life in antiquity have shown the female form proudly displaying their breasts in every day activities and at festive celebrations. Are the very roots of our society and culture depraved and corrupt?
Changes in a society can be rapid or slow, but always irritating to some, painful to others. To honor self-respect and the standards of the masses has always been the bane of radical changes. Look at the civil rights movement in our own past, to this fact. History shows change will not stop, but always takes place, even when it is not wanted.
Breast augmentation/reduction is the number two cosmetic surgery, just behind facials, i.e. facelifts, in the United States. If we are so adamant that breasts should be hidden, then why are so many respected surgeons making it their life’s work and being well paid for it?
Now for the most confusing part of the whole super bowl half-time show, the flag. We have standards on how the nation’s flag is made, cared for and displayed. I find it un-American to disgrace our national symbol. Patriots consider this treasonous.
This type of display shows a depraved indifference to the very essence of our nation. It is a blatant sign of self-loathing and hatred of this country. The flag is NOT just a multi-colored rag to be used in any fashion one deems fit.
Congress considers a bare breast as something they need a law to regulate, to legally display in public. Yet they refuse to regulate what someone can do to our flag, the symbol of our nation. What is so terribly wrong with this country that they not only allow, but applaud the degradation of old glory? Is there a deep underlying hatred of ourselves that feeds this need to dishonor the flag and nation? Is our governing body so out of touch with reality that a breast is more important than the national image and its banner?
Shortly after 9/11, no one would have even thought about burning a flag or ripping it to shreds and wearing it. Some people did drape themselves in the flag but only out of respect, complete, everlasting, and filled with honor. Have we forgotten so soon? The flag has always been a rallying point, is it not now? Wearing the flag should be done with all respect due the flag and the nation it stands for.
Throughout our history, there have been many disagreements about the flag, starting with its very creation. Once this honored banner of the United States of America was finally established, fighting members of our military died to keep it flying and never touch the ground. The very sight caused pride and inspiration to Francis Scott Key to pen the ‘Star Spangled Banner’. In schools, we pledged our allegiance to it. Remember, it starts out…I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States Of America.
We have men and women in our armed forces dying daily, this very minute, to safeguard this symbol of our nation. Would you go to their funerals and spit on the flag draped over their coffins? Go to the parents or loved ones, grieving over their loss and slap them in the face? Would you tell them they were stupid for raising or loving someone so inept that they died for a scrap of cloth? Go to the site where the twin towers once stood and urinate on this hallowed ground, where thousands perished, because they believed in the country this flag symbolizes?
We stand when the flag passes in a parade, yet do nothing when someone rips it to shreds. Can we be so jaded by our personal freedoms that we forget what this flag stands for? Does the suffering and pain generations have endured to keep this symbol the standard of freedom mean nothing?
This country is ever evolving to make life better for its citizens, yet we fail to safeguard our very symbol. Displaying a bare breast in public, or the dishonoring of the flag, which is more important? Why should we chastise the human body and applaud the undermining of our nation? Just what is the moral fiber of this nation and its people? What legacy are we leaving the next generation?
Many thousands died to make and keep this nation whole, and have one flag fly proudly over its capital. Are we now going to have their sacrifice be in vain? If this is truly the will of the people, then turn out the lights. Close the country down! We deserve anything and everything the closed and narrow-minded wish to mete out to us. Freedom’s brightest beacon will have gone out and darkness takes us all.
We are Americans; take pride in yourself, as you are this country. The flag is the symbol of YOU.
If you live in this country, have pride in it and the symbol that stands for it.
Ed Williams
posted by Ed | 03:22
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