The third bird

Today it came out that the Bushies are restricting condom distribution
and encouraging abstinence.

I am reminded of Wallace Stevens' lines:

I was of three minds,
Like a tree
In which there are three blackbirds.

Only it's me that is "of three minds." Three because I agree that
abstinence is underrated. I have a tendency to admire the karezza crowd
who valued romance so much that they wallowed in it, never actually
letting go to orgasm because they thought it diminished the feelings of
romance between the (sated) couple. Kind of sweet.

On the other bird's mind is the thought that such control is not for
the unsophisticated. And it's obvious that most people are in the "un"
category. For those people I wouldn't want to limit their options.
Testosterone is strong in the young set. Hormones surge stronger than
some 54 year old senator might recall. I wouldn't want to be the one
who restricted condom use that could have cut back on AIDS.

Practically speaking, the moralistic view may be killing people. I'd
rather inspire people for abstinence (where appropriate) and to partake
of the deeper happiness of a committed relationship than have them face
the threat of death for a little sexual release. Denial is pretty easy
when desire is in charge. Having free condoms around is a bit safer than
relying on the broad intellectual awareness of every teen.

The challenge is to get the boys to wear a condom if they have them.
Ask any sexually active teenage girl. Boys don't like condoms, usually.
And here the Bushies want to make it more difficult for the young
gentlemen in the crowd, who are willing to have what is generally
perceived to be a reduced physical experience in order to protect their
girlfriend from the big risk, pregnancy, and those other "little" risks,
i.e. - AIDS, syphilis, herpes, etc.

When morality conflicts with reality, it appears that the little people
take the damages.

Then there's the third bird. You had forgotten him? He's still up in
the tree, looking off in the distance. The reason for his distraction
is that he's waiting for the next right wing travesty to come lurching
over the horizon, since it seems that there is a new oddity every day
dispatched from the apparent philistines that have taken over the reins
of the country.

Let's get off on a tangent (we'll be back). I'm going to talk about
astrology now, so if that disturbs you just go away, since I don't have
time to convince you (and frankly, Scarlett...). The scorpio is famous
for secrecy. How their secret got out I don't know. But one's dominant
tendencies can be apparently be undercut by other aspects of the
astrological chart. I had friend with a scorpio sun sign that was also
blessed with an aries rising sign. Aries is legendary for
impulsiveness. This configuration had the unusual effect of compelling
the normally secretive scorpio personality to frequently blurt out what
she was thinking.

It was with this person that I discovered the reason for that Scorpio
reticence. They are hiding stuff, in general, that no one would wish to
know. Finding out what was really going on in there was an unsettling
experience. All kinds of coelecanthine thoughts found their way
to the surface and popped out of her mouth, only to flop, wiggling on the table, to the
embarassment of all. It made it hard for her to be in
polite company. It's one thing to be blunt, like an aries, but it's
quite another to be a blunt weapon, like a scorpio with aries rising.

Okay, that's over. We're back. The point of that excursis into
California thinking was that for many years we didn't have to watch the
conservatives on TV and suffer through their repressive policies
because they were not only outre but out of power.

But now they are on top of the pile. No longer hidden.

In the old days, you might have a conservative sort of some kind in
your high school classes, kind of like a pet dinosaur. But now they are
all grown up, and somehow, while we weren't looking they just took
over.

Still, there they are in broad daylight. These guys who were nursing
their tortured thinking for years alone in or in a group of the
similarly unimaginative are finally visible, and we see them for what
they are.

They were okay on the fringes of society, they were okay as a sort of
retro pet on the edge of the crowd. But they don't do well at the top.

But now that they are out of the closet we can take steps to neutralize
a threat that we sadly underestimated.

They are now doing their worst, just being themselves. And it's up to
us to save them from it.