David Epstein, Columbia political science professor and HuffPo blogger, was arrested on Thursday and charged with incest for having a "consensual" relationship with his 24 year old daughter. I am not going to get into the horror of the relationship. What I find interesting about this story are the comments that were left on the Columbia Spectator, the University's paper.
Some of these people are truly sick individuals. There are some that are saying that this man shouldn't have been arrested because the relationship was consensual. OK, it is not possible to consent to having sex with a parent, regardless of how old you are. The power structure in that relationship makes it impossible. Others are questioning why the daughter has also not been charged.
In some ways you can describe one of the many differences between conservatives and progressives is that I look at things as black and white, and progressives only see gray. No matter where you fall on the spectrum it would seem pretty easy to realize that having a three year sexual relationship with your child is wrong and sick.
While this seems like a stretch to equate these two things, but for me it is the slippery slope. Apparently, this man feels like this relationship was perfectly fine. Some of the commenters also seem to feel the same way. So, this is one of reasons that I am against gay marriage. If we go by the the progressive view of "if they are in love" they should be able to marry. Does this father also have the right to marry his daughter? Do we also allow people to have multiple wives? There is even a TV show on that a man who has three or four wives. They live together as one big happy family. While he is only legally married to one of them, he feels that this is perfectly fine.
This is one area that really isn't gray. People can have all types of beliefs, that doesn't mean that society has to accept them. There are times that things are black and white, cases of incest being one. We keep moving the goal post on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in a civil society. Political correctness is making it very difficult to just stand up and say this is wrong, and this is wrong! What kind of society do we have if college-aged students, who obviously are bright, are accepting that this type of relationship is just a life choice?
H/T to Other McCain
Crossposted at PotLuck
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3 comments:
I got nothin' here short of "ick". I'm not terribly particular in my "particulars", but.....ick.
yeah, it is difficult to find words for this story.
It is mindblowing to me that people are saying that this ok. These are college students, but still. I would think that even at that age, you would understand that this poor girl had to have been abused in some way to agree to that type of relationship. What is really sad, is that is so public. Her life is going to be badly damaged.
This is what happens when there are no social standards and "anything goes".There was a time when people wouldn't even think of such a thing. Girls who became pregnant as teenagers now wear it as a badge of honor while the boys walk away. We have turned a blind eye to it for decades. Pornography used to be in a brown paper wrapper and no one wanted to be seen with it. And kiddie porn was taboo. Now it's all a few mouse-clicks away.
Now this. I don't know how (or if) she recovers from this....and at age 24? Yikes.
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