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POLICE STATE
FREEDOM OF WORSHIP - YES!
FREEDOM OF WHORESHIP - NO!
EDITORIAL AND PHOTOS BY FRED H. BERGER
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America,
"land of the free, home of the brave." Never have we heard this
patriotic expression more than in the months following the September
11th terrorist attack on our country. But when asked what freedoms we
enjoy in America, some people just haven't got a clue, while others
will almost always start by saying "freedom of worship." The next
freedom most frequently sighted is the "freedom of expression," which
is hereby being put to the ultimate test. But no matter how ignorant,
or how well informed, no one will ever mention the "freedom to indulge
one's vices," which is by implication enshrined in the Declaration of
Independence under the right to the "pursuit of happiness." And there's
good reason for their silence; Americans are just too ashamed and
fearful to admit to their sexual peccadilloes and other "bad habits."
Our moral code and the law, operating hand-in-hand, have simply made
anything but the most conventional, procreation-based sex at best
shady, and at worst criminal. Everything from prostitution (outlawed in
every state but Nevada) to sexually active teens (in 17 states it is
illegal for persons under the age of 18 to have sex) to sodomy
(outlawed in 15 states, with 4 that single-out homosexuality) to gay
marriage (only Vermont recognizes same-sex civil unions) to gays in the
military (the armed forces prohibit gays from serving openly) is
hypocritically and arbitrarily censured. Also under heavy pressure are
abortion rights as well as anti-discrimination protections for sexual
minorities, both of which are under constant assault by right-wing,
neo-Puritan radicals. Just remember, it was the Puritans who brought us
the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s and the commie/queer-baiting Red
Scare of the 1950s.
Such
repression is a thing of the past in the progressive democracies of the
industrialized world. Gay domestic partnerships, gays in the military,
14 to 16 year ages of consent (for straight and gay youths) and
government regulated legal prostitution are more-or-less the norm in
Canada, Australia, England, France, Germany and most other European
nations. Europe and the British Commonwealth are the Western World, and
if we are to continue identifying with Western values, as opposed to
the values of our sworn enemies (homophobic, sexphobic, misogynist
Islamic extremists), then a reassessment of our social policies is
desperately needed, and it couldn't come at a more crucial time. Are
the aforementioned nations in any way uncivilized, unproductive,
lawless, corrupt or impoverished? Has fire and brimstone and the Wrath
of God rained down upon them? On the contrary, it was our largest city
and our nation's capital which went up in smoke on 9/11 (something
which might have been prevented if it weren't for the gross ineptitude
of the FBI, CIA, INS and NSA). Meanwhile, Europe's new currency, the
Euro, is pulling ahead of the U.S. Dollar, and unlike America, its
political and business leaders have not been implicated in
multi-trillion dollar corporate fraud scandals, and its clergy has not
been exposed as a pack of wolves in sheep's clothing. In rapid
succession, our most respected institutions (Martha Stewart, Inc. and
American capitalism itself, federal law enforcement and intelligence
agencies, the Catholic Church) have fallen mightily from grace with the
same sudden impact as the collapse of the World Trade Center.
America
has a serious stick up its ass when it comes to sex, and because of it
rape, abduction and serial murder is rampant, and our culture of greed
and gluttony has proceeded unchecked to the point where most Americans
are seriously overweight, depressed and deep in debt. The flag-waving
populist talking heads in media and government tell America's critics
to "love it or leave it," to beat it to those "cheese-eating, free-love
welfare states of Europe with their universal health care and nudist
beaches;" they even offer to pay the airfare. But these chauvinistic
bully-boys could take a lesson from history; the most sexually
repressed societies have committed the worst crimes in the name of
"God," "law and order" and "decency." From the Holy Inquisition and the
Holocaust to the Stalinist Purges and Mao's Cultural Revolution (each
of which imprisoned, enslaved, tortured, and massacred millions),
tyranny has always sought and found a scapegoat for society's ills
(i.e., the heretic, the Jew, "the enemy of the people," "the
counter-revolutionary"). And now, in the good old U.S. of A., they've
identified the new boogie men: "the pusher," "the pothead," "the
pedophile/pervert," and the "subvert" (animal rights, vegetarian,
environmentalist wacko). And the prison-industrial complex has become,
after pornography, our greatest growth industry as the jails fill up at
a record pace. In the year 2000, the United States pulled ahead of
Russia as the nation with the highest prison incarceration rate in the
world, and has set a new record every year since. Currently over two
million Americans are behind bars, with another four million on
probation or parole (these figures do not include millions of ex-cons
and others who have gone through the correctional system in years
past). Half of these law-breakers are non-violent offenders punished
for victimless crimes such as possession of a controlled substance,
public lewdness, sexual solicitation, and statutory rape (in cases
where the sex is consensual and the so-called "victim" is as old as 16
or 17). Robert Downey Jr., Peewee Herman, Hugh Grant and George Michael
have all been busted for violation of so-called "morality laws." Is
this really what is meant by "the Land of the Free?" What have
permissive "atheist fag" countries like Holland and Denmark ever done
to anyone? Instead of all the "un-American traitors" hopping the next
flight to Amsterdam or Copenhagen, leaving their loved ones and their
life's work behind, isn't it better, in light of the recent upheavals
that have shaken our nation to the core, that we take a collective,
naughty peek at ourselves? Perhaps this will enable us to find "the
whore within," that noble and free spirit that can break the shackles
of shame and consign the Puritan Police State to the ash heap of
history. Hallelujah - the happy hooker cometh! We can still dream,
can't we?
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Full article available in Propaganda issue #27.
>Ordering Information
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^Chick
with a stick. This cell block mama's got a hard-on for cherry-poppin'
pervs, hookers and druggies - you know, the "usual suspects."
Model: Brooke Hansson
^It's
just so simple, and PC, to raid cruising parks and stake-out public
toilets in search of lewdness. It's quite another thing to track down
terrorists in their houses of worship, or crooked corporate CEOs in
their board rooms.
Model: Lui Antinous
^"Quality of life" crimes and other acts of "terrorism" must be crushed. "Hey toots; you're comin' with me!"
Models: Shannon and Heather
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