Last weekend, I went to see The Transporter. The Transporter is a very silly movie wherein many, many people get killed and try to kill each other, usually with guns or burning oil. It is rated PG-13.
This very same weekend, a friend of mine -- who shall remain nameless -- rented and watched a movie called Showgirls. Showgirls is -- according to him -- a very silly movie wherein many, many naked people try to get ahead in the showgirling business. It is rated NC-17.
Stop. Go back a second. Didn't I just say The Transporter was a movie wherein a lot of people die? Given, Showgirls has sex, violence and strong language, but the latter two have never garnered higher than an R-rating in my experience, which means the nudity pushed them one notch higher.
It has been said that the best way to gauge the intellectual level of a country is by its taboos. Not surprising, then, that this country was founded on repression and priggishness. Two hundred and twenty-six years of hard work has only gotten us this far -- and kids, it ain't so far at all.
It's still regarded as a mortal sin to suggest that people have interesting things beneath their clothes, much less that they might do fun things with these bits and pieces. Why? What's so utterly wrong about this wonderful and miraculous act that makes it so dirty in the eyes of the populace?
Why is the taking a life so much easier to deal with than the act which creates life? I can remember, very clearly, having sex-ed class in the same grade as the those famous kids were in when it happened. You might remember these kids: They brought guns to school. Then they used them.
I know people whose parents told them, even up to the age where they could go out and have sex, that babies came from cabbage patches, or storks or whatever. Why? I'm not completely certain, but I think part of it stems from that last bit, that fun. The people who founded and developed our country were so averse to fun -- especially fun that could be so disarming -- that they followed in the footsteps of the people they had been so eagerly fleeing from, and cast a stigma over sex that has lasted over 200 years. Quite an impressive record.
As usual, I do not have the answers. Should we tell our kids early? Should we cut down on violence? Should we change our way of thinking entirely? I don't know. As my first hate-mailer puts it: "All you ever do is complain." Maybe I do.
But I make no apologies. If you read this and hate it, great. If you read it and love it, even better -- but for the love of God, don't just put it down and forget it. We are the only animal on this planet capable of reasoning; so reason. Form an opinion. Change something. Do something.
Or else, we might as well all be dead already.
There. I'm done. You can go now.
Write to Jonathan at BeckettG13@aol.com
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