Posts by Russell Brown
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Meanwhile, the Right is turning on Perry.
Too liberal, insufficiently brutal towards the children of illegal immigrants. And some other shit that really does not make sense.
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OnPoint: Set it on fire, then, in reply to Tony Siu,
Tony, yours the the argument that I best relate to. But it's late and I'll have to tell you about that tomorrow.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to James Butler,
One thing you notice growing up in a nudist club is that boys from the time they came walk will wander around holding their penis. Not so much playing with it, holding. Like a security blanket.
Evolution put it an easy arm's reach away for a reason, right?
Oh, sure. We didn't suggest a room change for just holding the penis. Dudes be holding penis all the time. But there are stages of more vigorous intent.
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At the worse of times, I don’t even have the words to describe this shit. Actually, sure I do: They lick piss.
Jesus fuck.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to BenWilson,
A hard one to answer, very much on topic for this thread, was "why can't I play with my penis". I had to think about it, and then modify it. "You can't play with it in front of people". Why? "Because I said so". Too hard to answer.
We found that pretty straightforward: it is fine and healthy for you to play with your penis. But that is a personal thing you do in the privacy of your room.
We didn't get any pesky "but why?" questions, though.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to James Butler,
I have to admit to suffering a bit from this. Doesn’t help that I still participate in church services more often than you might expect an atheist to (although I know I’m not the only one in my choir).
An old friend who now lives in the US is a highly-engaged, throughly non-theist Quaker. I quite admire that.
The Quakers’ attitude towards sex and homosexuality in particular seems to depend quite a lot on where they live.
British Quakers:
In 1963, British Quakers published a book “Towards a Quaker View of Sex”. It put forth the argument that it was not the gender and sexual orientation of a person that mattered; it was the depth of feeling they have for each other.
“Where there is a genuine tenderness, an openness to responsibility, and the seed of commitment, God is surely not shut out. Can we not say that God can enter any relationship in which there is a measure of selfless love?"But …
Friends Church Southwest Yearly Meeting:
They issued a statement on 1992-JAN-24 which says in part:
“We declare that our sexuality is God’s gift, and that sexual intercourse is to be enjoyed, as the Scriptures teach, only within the marriage of one man and one woman. We reject and utterly oppose homosexual activity, especially the “blessing” of same sex unions, as sinful and displeasing to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Right reason, Holy Scripture and the Spirit of Christ within us unitedly testify that homosexual practice is contrary to God’s will. We also observe that homosexual practice is portrayed in the Scriptures as one of the awful consequences of humanity’s pursuit of idolatry. (Romans 1:18-32)Happily:
New Zealand: The Quaker meeting in Aotearoa is called “Te Hahi Tuhauwiri.” This was the name gifted to them by the Maori Language Commission in 1994. It means “The people who are moved by the winds of the Spirit.” In 1999, they published their Statement of Affirmation and Reconciliation about the inclusiveness of sexualities, especially gays and lesbians. It had been adopted in 1995. Portions read:
“The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in Aotearoa New Zealand commits itself to be a community of reconciliation, responding to the love of God in equality of participation and service, and recognizing the gifts of God in one another. A cornerstone of Quaker belief is ‘that of God’ in everyone which makes each person precious, and of value to God, to the planet, and to her or his community.Each individual’s journey through life is unique. Some will make this journey alone, others in loving relationships – maybe in marriage or other forms of commitment. We need to ponder our own choices and try to understand the choices of others. Love has many shapes and colors and is not finite. It can not be measured or defined in terms of sexual orientation.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to James Butler,
All I’ll say is that Saint Fucking Paul has a lot to answer for.
ETA perhaps that should be Saint "No Fucking" Paul.
We had a genuine Pauline Christian commenting here for a while. He was quite a critter.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Emma Hart,
Yes, hence Satanism. My only problem with it is that, like Atheism, it's forming itself in the shadow of Christianity, rather than just ignoring it.
There is nothing that makes Satanism not a religion. Also, atheism is what now?
Satanism is a Christian heresy. It doesn't exist independent of the Christian myths.
Atheism simply sees no evidence for the existence of any of it. Hardly the same thing.
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Up Front: It's Not Sex, and It's Not Education, in reply to Paul Williams,
I’m sure that’s right. Shaun Robinson, EO of the NZ Aids Council, is a friend and told me of his frustration when the winner of Mr Gay NZ, in his acceptance speech, told the audience he was off to do bareback work in the US porn industry. Personal choice is one thing, entering a competion with an organisation that preaches safe sex is another.
Far out. I'd be bloody angry if I were Shaun. Taking the prize and saying that from the stage is real bad faith.
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Hard News: Who owns the news?, in reply to Sacha,
Works for who though? The media companies, perhaps.
Production companies too. For all the talk about "long tail" revenue, nobody sees much of yet. OTOH, even the pitiful sums available from onselling to some shithouse cable channel do actually constitute money. There are trade shows to do deals at, formats to sell multiple times. Even the likes of Disney find is simpler and less risky to simply do a supply deal with the likes of TVNZ.
That's not to say it doesn't have to change. But the incentives aren't really there at the moment.