Saturday, April 12, 2008

A Story Of A Prurient Nature

Warning to those of a puerile nature, this discussion may make you blush. I will be discussing subjects of a mature nature. Read on if you wish, but you have been warned.

- Editor


Apparently, the tabloid press of the United Kingdom have an axe to grind (or an axle) with Max Mosley. The president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, was (eh-hem) "caught with his pants down" shall we say? The papers report of his being spotted in flagrante dilecto in a London "dungeon" with a number of "professional women." Furthermore, apparently, the proceedings were being secretly videotaped by The News of the World.

There are calls for him to resign his post over the indiscretion. But it was not the fact of the indiscretion that seemed to have been the problem. It was the nature of its execution that caused the raising of a collective eyebrow. Mr. Mosley, who is the former head of the British Union of Fascists and who was a friend to the late Adolf Hitler (yes, THAT Adolf Hitler) was indulging in fantasies that many have found to be objectionable. It is the nature of those fantasies that have wrought the wrath of his critics.

Not that I condone (nor condemn for that matter) the offensive behavior (How could I? It does not involve me in any way!), but I have to say, if you're going to call for one's resignation, you may as well do it for valid reasons. Since what he was doing was neither crime nor offense in that particular Chelsea locale, and since it could be argued, that he did have some reasonable expectation of privacy in the establishment within which the act took place, I see no grounds for such a demand.

Surely, you knew that he had Nazi beliefs and leanings before he was selected the head of the FIA, so it cannot be that you are shocked by his inclinations. Surely you cannot be espousing the right to police someone's private fantasies. Surely, you cannot be wishing to squelch the rights of two (or more, as in this case) consenting adults!

Once again, those who would steal our freedoms step up to try! If you have an objection to the type of club that he was patronizing, then work to convince a majority that it, in some legal way, should justifiably be closed. Short of that, live with the fact that you (the fans of the FIA) have an aging (ex) Nazi with a passion for professionals and a fantasy life that leans toward the distasteful. He was expressing himself in an entirely legal way; even if it was one that you, personally, find to be distasteful.

But society cannot grant a right to do something then act scandalized when someone actually does it! What these people were doing was legal. You cannot legislate morality or good taste. If you disagree with their lawful expression of their rights, then you really have only one recourse.

Vote with your feet! Quit supporting the person you disagree with by not buying what he is selling… You have that right. (Yes, even in the UK you have the right to watch or not watch whatever you want!) As I say to so many of the vocal protestors of what we have on the media over here: "Change the channel; Don't buy the papers! If you disagree with it, don't do it!"

Live your life and let everyone else get on with living theirs!

Wherever you are today, I hope that you have something that you can get worked-up over!

Don Bergquist – April 12, 2008 – Lakewood, Colorado, USA

(Thanks for bearing with me on this… I was trying to be as tasteful as I could when discussing this topic.)

- Editor

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