Cultural Pedophilia
Once upon a time in a land not so far from here lived a man named Larry. Larry was a strange bird, at best, and had strong beliefs. That is to say, he believed that everyone else should accept anything he said as fact. Other than that, his beliefs seemed to scatter to and fro.
One day, Larry, myself, and a group of three or four coworkers went to lunch at a local pizza joint. While eating, the topic of Tom Green came up. Not the Tom Green from MTV lore, nor the other one you've heard about here and there, but the third one. The Mormon with all the wives.
You see, this was right around the time Tom Green was charged with child rape...among other things.
Our conversation centered around the fact that this guy just wasn't right. He wasn't right to have multiple wives, he wasn't right to have underaged wives, and he wasn't right to go around telling people that he was right.
"You guys are missing the point. It's purely a cultural thing. In America, we consider it wrong for an older man to be with a younger woman, but in other parts of the world it's acceptable," Larry said...or something to the effect.
"Larry, there's a lot of things that are acceptable in other parts of the world. That still doesn't make them right," I replied.
At this point, I had broken Larry's cardinal rule. I had disagreed with him, and the outrage was clear on his face.
"Damon, what I'm saying is that just because it's illegal here in the United States," Larry said, putting an extra little bit of scorn on the name of our country, "doesn't mean it's morally wrong. It's just our culture..."
"I understand what you're saying, Larry, but that doesn't change the fact that a fully developed man impregnating a young girl is right anywhere. Those rules are there because those girls are children. They aren't finished developing physically or mentally yet. It's just wrong, Larry," I replied.
"Damon, y..." Larry tried to begin.
"It's wrong, Larry. Having sex with young girls is wrong," I said, cutting him off.
At this point, Larry couldn't take it anymore. I'm not sure if he just ran out of arguments, or he was just upset because someone was arguing with him in the first place.
He stood up, kicked his chair over, gave me a menacing look, called me an asshole, and walked out the front door of the restaurant.
Other than a little bewildered conversation about the events of the last few moments, that was the end of it. Larry and I eventually started talking like adults again, and the whole incident passed into history.
Until yesterday, that is.
Actually, to tell this story, I need to go back a few more days, to the weekend I spent at the house of the pastor who will soon be marrying me. Or wedding me to my wife. Whichever.
You see, Pastor Denny has a 4 year old daughter. Well, she assured me she was almost 5, but the song remains the same. Lydia, her name is.
Anyway, Lydia was like a little monkey who wouldn't leave me alone. I wore her like a shawl the entire weekend. She just wouldn't get off of me. Cute kid, don't get me wrong, and I ate up the attention like anyone would.
After wearing Lydia for a day or so, she started to talk about marriage. She's a sharp kid, and the purpose of our journey was apparently pretty clear to her.
"Damon, you can't marry Niki," She says to me in all seriousness.
"Oh no? Why not?" I ask.
"Because I'm going to marry you. We'll have a house with a garden, we'll go to church every day. Oh! We'll be so happy," she says to me with hands clasped in front of her face and eyes beaming.
I could tell just by looking at her that she meant it, 100%. She really thought that we could get married. Like I would ditch my present fiance and start all over with her.
During the course of the rest of the weekend, she reiterated this sentiment again and again. Well, I gave her a hug on the way out the door, called her a monkey, and drove back to New Jersey with Niki.
Yesterday, while sitting at the table enjoying dinner with Niki, we talked about Lydia and her intentions. In jest, I spoke of grabbing Lydia and moving to another country where we wouldn't be judged. A place where a 29 year old man could marry a 5 year old girl and not have to face the wraith of a whole nation. Where would I go? Somewhere deep in Mexico? Maybe Nigeria? Chad?
Niki and I looked at each other and we both knew what/who we were thinking of: Larry.
"Just because it's illegal here doesn't mean it's morally wrong. It's just our culture..."
One day, Larry, myself, and a group of three or four coworkers went to lunch at a local pizza joint. While eating, the topic of Tom Green came up. Not the Tom Green from MTV lore, nor the other one you've heard about here and there, but the third one. The Mormon with all the wives.
You see, this was right around the time Tom Green was charged with child rape...among other things.
Our conversation centered around the fact that this guy just wasn't right. He wasn't right to have multiple wives, he wasn't right to have underaged wives, and he wasn't right to go around telling people that he was right.
"You guys are missing the point. It's purely a cultural thing. In America, we consider it wrong for an older man to be with a younger woman, but in other parts of the world it's acceptable," Larry said...or something to the effect.
"Larry, there's a lot of things that are acceptable in other parts of the world. That still doesn't make them right," I replied.
At this point, I had broken Larry's cardinal rule. I had disagreed with him, and the outrage was clear on his face.
"Damon, what I'm saying is that just because it's illegal here in the United States," Larry said, putting an extra little bit of scorn on the name of our country, "doesn't mean it's morally wrong. It's just our culture..."
"I understand what you're saying, Larry, but that doesn't change the fact that a fully developed man impregnating a young girl is right anywhere. Those rules are there because those girls are children. They aren't finished developing physically or mentally yet. It's just wrong, Larry," I replied.
"Damon, y..." Larry tried to begin.
"It's wrong, Larry. Having sex with young girls is wrong," I said, cutting him off.
At this point, Larry couldn't take it anymore. I'm not sure if he just ran out of arguments, or he was just upset because someone was arguing with him in the first place.
He stood up, kicked his chair over, gave me a menacing look, called me an asshole, and walked out the front door of the restaurant.
Other than a little bewildered conversation about the events of the last few moments, that was the end of it. Larry and I eventually started talking like adults again, and the whole incident passed into history.
Until yesterday, that is.
Actually, to tell this story, I need to go back a few more days, to the weekend I spent at the house of the pastor who will soon be marrying me. Or wedding me to my wife. Whichever.
You see, Pastor Denny has a 4 year old daughter. Well, she assured me she was almost 5, but the song remains the same. Lydia, her name is.
Anyway, Lydia was like a little monkey who wouldn't leave me alone. I wore her like a shawl the entire weekend. She just wouldn't get off of me. Cute kid, don't get me wrong, and I ate up the attention like anyone would.
After wearing Lydia for a day or so, she started to talk about marriage. She's a sharp kid, and the purpose of our journey was apparently pretty clear to her.
"Damon, you can't marry Niki," She says to me in all seriousness.
"Oh no? Why not?" I ask.
"Because I'm going to marry you. We'll have a house with a garden, we'll go to church every day. Oh! We'll be so happy," she says to me with hands clasped in front of her face and eyes beaming.
I could tell just by looking at her that she meant it, 100%. She really thought that we could get married. Like I would ditch my present fiance and start all over with her.
During the course of the rest of the weekend, she reiterated this sentiment again and again. Well, I gave her a hug on the way out the door, called her a monkey, and drove back to New Jersey with Niki.
Yesterday, while sitting at the table enjoying dinner with Niki, we talked about Lydia and her intentions. In jest, I spoke of grabbing Lydia and moving to another country where we wouldn't be judged. A place where a 29 year old man could marry a 5 year old girl and not have to face the wraith of a whole nation. Where would I go? Somewhere deep in Mexico? Maybe Nigeria? Chad?
Niki and I looked at each other and we both knew what/who we were thinking of: Larry.
"Just because it's illegal here doesn't mean it's morally wrong. It's just our culture..."
posted by Damon | 9:09 AM
3 Comments:
Does the Bible prohibit an older man to marry a younger woman? It was common practice back in the day and none of the prophets condemned it. Now morality is extracted from what God thinks is right or wrong (as stated in the Bible) isn't it? Therefore you can't call this act immoral. Maybe it violates your personal principles, or maybe the law (man-made-rules) but how do we know what's ABSOLUTELY right or wrong? Billions of couples have led wonderful lives marrying while having large age gaps.. not like the marriages we see today (approx 50% divorce rates!)
I don't have a stance on this issue, I'm just arguing for the sake of it!
I stumbled across your blog while doing research on Valentine's Day Facts for my site Valentine's Day Facts. Thought I'd say thanks!
I like exhibiotinist to little girl, i enjoy that very much
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