[PREV - CONTROLLING_THE_NARRATIVE]    [TOP]

BEHAVIORAL_CODE

                                                   July    28, 2009
                                                   October 30, 2009
Consider the defense:                              May     12, 2010
                                   POLAR_TRAP
"Inappropriate?  Come on,
it was just a *joke*."

But obviously, it wouldn't
have been funny if it        Or at least a suprising
wasn't inappropriate.        display, an unexpected     But it might strike
                             context-shift.             you as "witty" if
  This kind of humor                                    it were riding on
  relies on sexual                                      the wave of a
  hang-ups, it relies                                   changing social
  on it being at least            You might look at     standard, if
  a minor taboo                   this as a division    before-hand it
  violation.                      of different          seemed like a
                                  sub-cultures, if      surprise, but in
  (I have my doubts I             you get it, you're    retrospect it
  would've thought it             an "insider", if      seemed more natural,
  was all that funny...           you're offended,      an "of course" item.
  Not that I want to              you're on the outs.
  to blow my own horn.)                                 Humor can be the
                                Ted Nelson after        advance guard of
  There really is a need        his seminal talk        change-- e.g. queer
  to accept arbitrary           on teledildonics        men are currently
  social constraints...         later commented         frequently used as
                                that he was             comic figures: This
  E.g. you don't masturbate     surprised at the        probably does show
  in public (unless you're      reception it            lingering prejudice,
  at a gathering where          recieved.               but it may also be a
  that's accepted behavior).                            mechanism for
                                He somehow felt         overcoming that
  It's hard to think of a       that "computer          prejudice.
  activity more harmless        people" were
  than masturbating on a        people who were              Fear giving way
  park bench on a warm,         open to new                  to ridicule,
  sunny afternoon, but          ideas of all                 giving way to
  there is no way you can       sorts, i.e. he               acceptance.
  expect it to be               thought he was
  "inoffensive".                speaking to an
                                in-crowd and
  And in point of fact          was evidently
  someone willing to            surprised at        These two cases--
  violate this taboo            the presence of     a gradient of time,
  almost certainly              "straights".        or a gradient of
  really has something                              culture can merge
  seriously wrong with                              if the "insider"
  them.  Shunning                                   culture is the
  someone who does this                             advance culture,
  openly is not just                                the "trend-setters".
  mindless prejudice,
  it's a sensible                                   But the cases may
  recognition of a                                  differ: the insiders
  symptom of disorder.                              pushing for more
                                                    relaxed sexual rules
      But then attitudes                            have often been
      do change, morés are                          precursors of change,
      not fixed.                                    but the dominant
                                                    culture does seem to
      Someday, even something                       veer back and forth
      like this prohibition                         in somewhat
      might soften or fade.     Folsom Street       unpredictable ways.
                                über alles

                                                       "Anything goes, today."
                                                       has always been an
                                                       exaggeration.
      I suspect the fellow who
      gave the talk thinks of                             Still, if I had
      himself as representative                           to bet, I would
      of a new era where all are                          bet on a future
      (or shortly will be) more                           of increasing
      comfortable about sexual                            social liberty.
      matters.
                                                          A less "puritanical"
          He feels like                                   culture, if not an
          he's moved beyond                               irresponsible one.
          the need to keep        And in this case,
          his interest in         the feminists
          pornography a           are arguing he
          secret...               should keep his
                                  sexuality in the
                                  closet.               Don't ask
       But even if he's called                          don't tell.
       this right, it doesn't
       mean he's not a dork.

       If we ever really do move beyond the
       old puritanical attitudes, this talk
       will seem, in retrospect, remarkably
       silly-- a symptom of someone "trying          Myself, I really
       too hard".                                    wish we were living in
                                                     a world where everyone
                                                     just went "what a
                                                     dork!" and moved on.

--------
[NEXT - BANKHEAD_AHEAD]