SEX

On my way to school today I managed to come by three front-page news stories regarding sexual misconduct. There was an article about Minister Ramon in the ידעיות אחרונות of that Israeli guy on the subway. (english coverage articles at: http://www.ynetnews.com/home/1,7340,L-3341,00.html?SearchType=TopNav&criteria=&sog=&keyword=&txtSearchString=ramon&txtChanID=3083&select1=Site)

There was an absolutely ridiculous article in the NYT, about some 27 year old creep who has been using razors and make up to forge the appearance of a seventh grader who is enrolled in a local public school. Apparently this guy lives in a house with a bunch of other prison-record rapists in some town in Arizona, and according to video,has raped at least one little boy...at least. (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/us/01predator.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin)

Finally, there was some sex scandal on the front page of Metro or New York or some newspaper of that sort, regarding something with video, internet, and rape...I was rushing, so I didn't quite grasp the headline.

That's just for this morning. If you've been paying the slightest attention to the news lately, you know that sex scandals are anything but scarce these days. There's the big rape scandal that Moshe Katsav is infamous for. In America, there was that whole ridiculous thing with Mark Foley and his page friend. The list goes on and on, and if Americans are feeling too up and proud of themselves, let's just remember that the record has been repeatedly scratched by those even as popular as Clinton and JFK. But that's not the point, the point is what's happening right now, right?

I'm not quite sure, but let's have a look anyway.

In the case of Katsav and Ramon, criticism has been incredibly vast, and the popular consensus is: "Leave, you're embarrassing the country."

So my question is, is it the politicians, who are embarrassing the country with this obscure, repremendable behavior?

Is it Katsav having sex, and Ramon kissing some girl; is it Mark Foley sending some teenager a flirty text message, that represent the corruption in society?

If it is, why does it keep happening? Why aren't we seemingly able to rid ourselves of this disgusting social decay?

You know, despite whatever these anti-government tykes say, I hold firmly to the belief that government electives are really quite representative of the general public. What I'm trying to say with this, is that the problem isn't in a few guys caught in misconduct, and thus misrepresenting the innocent people.

They are representing the people quite exactly, and what they're showing isn't some personal moral decay, but a large-scale moral and cultural corruption that is increasingly precedent all around the techno-fied world.

It is a culture of materialism; it is a culture of substance dependence. It is a culture of casual and permiscuous sex that is thrown around like a plaything. You wonder about sexual misconduct...

Enraged parents, hold on a second. Is it Mark Foley, is it Haim Ramon who is teaching and encouraging your children to act loosly upon their sexual desires, regardless who is 'victimized' by it?

Femenists in Israel, is it Ramon who is putting down female equality?

Or is it that rap video they just saw, in which the half-naked woman bends down all the way and shakes her ass vigorously, rubbing against some buffed up guy's pants as he sings about how much the girls like him and how much sex he gets from the ones worthy enough to be liked by him?

Is it those great songs that find themselves on popular American radio stations like z100, and that somehow make their way into the ears and succeedingly, the mouths of the 10 year old campers in the JCH I work in? The songs that these kids listen to uncensored, so that phrases like "Lick my ----" can be fulfilled?

When I went online hours after noting to myself the riduculous abundance of sex-related stories in the media, I found a most suiting article by ידיעות אחרונות in English (ynetnews.com). This article (http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3359744,00.html) tells of how unsafe children internet use is; how incredible numbers of kids give away their information, and even go to meet random people they meet on the internet. This brings me back to a story that happened years ago, in which some israeli kid got trapped by a gang of Palestinians (or maybe just Arabs) who pretended to be a woman online, lured him to come to meet them, and then murdered the kid. Anyway, what is more to point is in the very headline of this article:

"Do children surf to porn sites? 'Absolutely not' say 84 percent of parents. 'Of course' say 60 percent of their kids."

According to a study done by the Tel Aviv Department of Communication and Haifa University, about 60% of Israeli children have been customers of internet porn.

Is it really Ramon's fault? I'll bet half of those interviewed don't have a clue about who he is.

They'll surely tell you who Subliminal is though (as much as I do love him).

The funnier thing, is that when I showed this article to a friend of mine (in NY), he commented that the percentage in America is probaby closer to 95%. I don't think it's quite that much of an embellishment, too.

From my experience alone, and I don't generally stray too much into mainstream pop media, modern culture is a continuous drilling of everything a moral person would go against. There are the personalities, the TV shows, etc. that show that everything can be good if only you have that ipod, those brand new 200$ NIKE sneakers, that gold chain, etc. Their message is that 'it's all good as long as you look fresh'

There's the prominent sex. Turn on the all-too-popular show, Desperate Housewives, for example. Now once again, I think it's a great show, I do, but think about it. The plot involves a married woman sleeping with a high school boy, a man who suffers for his murdered mistress, though his ex-wife is trying to empregnate herself by him against his will (by drugging him, nonetheless), and the fun just grows from there.

These are the values the society handles; this is what is being passed on generation to generation. Is it really Mark Foley's fault?

I'll take it a step farther. Our society is so corrupt; our culture so sex-obsessed, substance-dependent, and out of control, that it's spun totally out of control.

Approximately 1/4 of American teenagers are said to have been infected by a Sexually Transmitted Disease already (http://www.cbn.com/700club/guests/bios/Hayley_DiMarco072006.aspx)

Over half of teenagers 15-19 have had oral sex (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/15/AR2005091500915.html?nav=hcmodule)

and 73% teen girls, 55% boys have already had the chance to regret beginning sexual activity at an early age. (CBN).

It is a situation that is clearly chaotic, and out of control.

But to go as far as to blame politicaians?

No, it's far beyond all of them, as ridiculous and deservingly scrutinized for their actions as they are. My point is, our culture is poisoned, and we must not let the details for scandals blind us to that. If we are all really so embarrassed by these corruptees that are said to represent us, won't we go and try to make it all not apply to us? Otherwise, what's the point?