Gay libertarians to discuss Boy Scouts case at UVA, 03.30.00
ARGMEDIA
GAYS AND LESBIANS FOR INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY
http://www.glil.org
GLIL Spokespeople to Appear at University of Virginia on March 30
Berliner and Huff to Discuss Boy Scouts Case Now Before U.S. Supreme Court
(Charlottesville, Va., March 29, 2000) --- Two representatives of Gays and
Lesbians for Individual Liberty (GLIL) will speak at the University of
Virginia on Thursday, March 30, to explain why the organization defends the
constitutional rights of the Boy Scouts to exclude openly gay Scout leaders
from their ranks. Odell Huff, executive vice president of GLIL, and Dana
Berliner, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, will speak at the
event, sponsored by Students for Individual Liberty (S.I.L.), at 7:30 p.m.
in the Minor Hall Auditorium on the main grounds of the University of
Virginia in Charlottesville.
GLIL's brief was filed in the case of Boy Scouts of America v. James Dale,
which was appealed to the nation's highest court after the New Jersey
Supreme Court ruled last August that the Boy Scouts may not exclude gay men
from leadership positions.
Since the brief was filed on February 28, GLIL has won praise for its
efforts from unexpected sources.
In his syndicated column on March 26, which appears in the Charlottesville
Daily Progress and 500 other newspapers, George F. Will wrote that "GLIL,
warning against 'creeping infringement'of freedom of association, notes that
gay organizations often seek and administer 'gay environments,' including
clubs, retreats, vacations and professional and alumni organizations.
America needs a livelier understanding of the arithmetic of rights that GLIL
understands: Multiplying rights, such as the right of a gay to be a
Scoutmaster, can mean a net subtraction from freedom."
Veteran columnist James J. Kilpatrick also commented, in an article
appearing in the Raleigh News & Observer on March 16: "Remarkably, the most
eloquent brief comes from Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty. It says,
'The New Jersey Supreme Court's decision restricting the ability of the Boy
Scouts of America to choose its own leaders and define its own membership
criteria dangerously erodes the freedom of all Americans, including gay
Americans, and should be reversed.' I find myself in complete sympathy with
that point of view also."
Debra Saunders, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, noted in that
paper's March 7 editions: "The award for true tolerance goes to Gays and
Lesbians for Individual Liberty. What a joy to find advocates who push for
the right to free association, not just for themselves, but for others."
Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty was founded in February 1991 to
advance the ideas of economic and personal freedom and individual
responsibility. A summary and the full text of GLIL's brief is available
on-line at http://www.glil.org.
-30-
Brian Westley
...
> Veteran columnist James J. Kilpatrick also commented, in an article
>appearing in the Raleigh News & Observer on March 16: "Remarkably, the most
>eloquent brief comes from Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty. It says,
>'The New Jersey Supreme Court's decision restricting the ability of the Boy
>Scouts of America to choose its own leaders and define its own membership
>criteria dangerously erodes the freedom of all Americans, including gay
>Americans, and should be reversed.' I find myself in complete sympathy with
>that point of view also."
> Debra Saunders, a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, noted in that
>paper's March 7 editions: "The award for true tolerance goes to Gays and
>Lesbians for Individual Liberty. What a joy to find advocates who push for
>the right to free association, not just for themselves, but for others."
I've never seen them address the problem of the large number of
scout troops chartered by public entities; one of the reasons
cited by the NJ court in declaring the boy scouts a public
accommodation is the fact that they accept charters from
public schools, police departments, etc. which, of course,
cannot discriminate in the way the BSA wants them to.
---
Merlyn LeRoy
James Doemer
Brian Westley <wes...@visi.com> wrote in message
news:f%8F4.1361$75.2...@ptah.visi.com...
I have brought that very point up on several occasions. As yet
I've not seen anyone on the side that supports discrimination
address it. There are many troops across the country that
uses public facilities, yet they still wish to pick and choose
who they can admit. The BSA needs to decide one way or
they other if they are a public accomodation, or a private
club. If they are a public accomodation, and wish to continue
to use public funds and facilities, then they will have
to abide by the laws dealing with discrimination on the
local and federal level. If they decide to be a private
club, and to discriminate in their membership, then
they need to withdraw from public funding and facilities.
As a private club, I would support their right to discriminate.
I will not support their right to discriminate while using
my tax dollars to do so.
Christopher J. Watson
James Doemer wrote:
<snip>
These are the types of reasons that many new discrimination laws based on sexual
behaviors won't be passed, I suspect.
People arguing about nebulous "sexual orientations"/sexual desires are in
essence arguing ad naseum about nothing at all. But when the laws are applied
to sexual behaviors reality sets in, and many aren't liking having to put up
with homosexual behavior. Probably because most don't think that homosexual
behavior is desirable. And homophiles have yet to prove that homosexual
behavior is desirable.
--
--W
"Tolerance is the highest virtue for
those who have no others." --G.K. Chesterton
Christopher J. Watson
Can\"Ms\"Laura wrote:
> Christopher J. Watson wrote in message <38E53722...@hotmail.com>...
> >
> <snip>
>
> >People arguing about nebulous "sexual orientations"/sexual desires are in
> >essence arguing ad naseum about nothing at all. But when the laws are
> applied
> >to sexual behaviors reality sets in, and many aren't liking having to put
> up
> >with homosexual behavior.
>
> Since when do straight people have to "put up with" homosexual behavior?
You're for treating homosexuality on a par with heterosexuality. Heterosexual
behavior is "put up with" all the time.
<snip>
> Why can't homophobic people such as yourself just accept it and stop
> obsessing about it?
I am not irrational. I am effected by higher crime rates, a higher need for
socialism, HIV spending, etc. Someone has to pay the bills and clean up after
infantile homophiles, you know.
"Self-denial is the test and definition of self-government."
--G.K. Chesterton - "The Field of Blood" Alarms and Discursions
"(A government health
official said, rather mildly:
''When you listen to
ACT UP describe us
as genocidal maniacs, you
suddenly start to wonder
why you are devoting
your life to this problem.")
> Wouldn't you have a lot more time to enjoy life if you
> weren't here spewing all this ultra conservative anti-gay rhetoric?
I enjoy life. Especially windsurfing, which is neither here nor there. I also
enjoy researching various things and the like. Apparently you have no case and
you're not enjoying anything.
"Do not enjoy yourself. Enjoy dances and theaters
and joy-rides and champagne and oysters; enjoy
jazz and cocktails and night-clubs if you can enjoy
nothing better; enjoy bigamy and burglary and any
crime in the calendar, in preference to the other
alternative; but never learn to enjoy yourself."
G.K. Chesterton - The Common Man
<snip>
> Probably because most don't think that homosexual
> >behavior is desirable. And homophiles have yet to prove that homosexual
> >behavior is desirable.
>
> LOL. This makes no sense at all! What do you mean by desirable?
Just what it says.
> To the
> straight population?
Societally, to everyone, you are advocating altering society for everyone
equally, after all. Does it promote the general welfare? Is it desirable?
"There are some desires that are not desirable." --G.K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy
> <snip>I'm just curious, Mr. Watson, why do you
> care so much about all of this?
""He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an
eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative."
--G.K. Chesterton - Varied Types
Issues of sexuality are interesting. For instance, why is a common insult
"mother f*cker" and another a reference to sodomy, eh? Why is a common
reference to courage a reference to testicles? Why are some people against sex
in public? And so on, very few seem to take the time to think about what
they're living day in and day out.
> Your position, and that of other homophobes, truly baffles me.
The position of homophobophobic homophiles and their victimization complexes
doesn't baffle me at all. Because I understand most of it.
Can"Ms"Laura
>People arguing about nebulous "sexual orientations"/sexual desires are in
>essence arguing ad naseum about nothing at all. But when the laws are
applied
>to sexual behaviors reality sets in, and many aren't liking having to put
up
>with homosexual behavior.
Since when do straight people have to "put up with" homosexual behavior? My
partner and I don't make love in front of straight people; nor do straight
people make love in front of us. I don't care what you do with your
significant other, why are you so up in arms about what I do with mine?
It's private behavior between consenting adults and it's never going to go
away. Why can't homophobic people such as yourself just accept it and stop
obsessing about it? Wouldn't you have a lot more time to enjoy life if you
weren't here spewing all this ultra conservative anti-gay rhetoric?
Wouldn't you be able to find a little happiness in your life?
Probably because most don't think that homosexual
>behavior is desirable. And homophiles have yet to prove that homosexual
>behavior is desirable.
LOL. This makes no sense at all! What do you mean by desirable? To the
straight population? If that's what your saying, then you're being
ridiculous. Homosex is no more desirable to hetereos than heterosex is to
homosexuals, but I'm not out campaigning to stop all the depictions of
men/women couplings in the media. I'm not out trying to pass legislation to
discrimiate about the breeders. I'm just curious, Mr. Watson, why do you
care so much about all of this?
Your position, and that of other homophobes, truly baffles me.
Og
The Faerie Godmother
Christopher J. Watson wrote in message
>> Since when do straight people have to "put up with"
homosexual behavior?
>You're for treating homosexuality on a par with
heterosexuality. Heterosexual
>behavior is "put up with" all the time.
What's wrong with treating homosexuality on a par with
heterosexuality? The argument is that heterosexual
behaviour *is* tolerated - no problem. The same indifferent
attitude *should* be applied to homosexuality.
>> Why can't homophobic people such as yourself just accept
it and stop
>> obsessing about it?
>I am not irrational. I am effected by higher crime rates,
a higher need for
>socialism, HIV spending, etc. Someone has to pay the bills
and clean up after
>infantile homophiles, you know.
What higher crime rate?
What higher need for socialism?
What greater need for HIV spending?
What etc.?
What bills do "infantile homophiles" cause?
Moira, the Faerie Godmother
Ward Stewart
MOIRA dear -- you are asking sensible questions of WATSON! Have you
forgotten yourself --
There is no one there!
ward
/////////////////////////////////////////
"There is only one law and that is love.
Only love can conquer death."
Buddha
/////////////////////////////////////////
Christopher J. Watson
The Faerie Godmother wrote:
> Ward Stewart wrote in message
> >On Sat, 1 Apr 2000 08:45:59 +0200, "The Faerie Godmother"
> ><faerieg...@africamail.com> wrote:
>
> >>What higher crime rate?
> >>What higher need for socialism?
> >>What greater need for HIV spending?
> >>What etc.?
> >>What bills do "infantile homophiles" cause?
>
> >MOIRA dear -- you are asking sensible questions of WATSON!
> Have you
> >forgotten yourself --
>
> >There is no one there!
>
> I keep hoping that one day I will educate him
Not without evidence.....
> - or even that
> one day I will wake up and discover that he has educated me
> :-).
Impossible, I suspect.
Until you overcome your maternal neurosis.
> In the meantime I continue to post for the benefit of
> the lurkers.
Did you miss my article on Britain, homophiles and HIV?
That is true of The West in general.
> Moira, the Faerie Godmother.
Perhaps one day you'll come back from faerie land and join us in the
real world, "mother."
"'You've got to get these mothers out of the way,'"
"Richard Green, who trained with Money,
searched for factors that might
predispose to gender nonconformity
in children. In his 1974 book Sexual Identify
Conflict in Children and Adults, Green explored these
factors by means of extensive interviews with
gender-nonconformist boys and their parents.
Although he was cautious in attributing
causality, Green named several factors
that he believed were associated with femininity in
boys: the failure of parents to discourage
feminine behaviors, their active encouragement
of feminine behaviors, their active discouragement of
boyish behaviors, maternal overprotection,
and so on. He explained to parents that they
might have unwittingly caused or promoted their son's
femininity, and that they stood the best chance
of correcting the problem if they started to
actively discourage it and encourage
masculinity instead. In particular, the fathers
should take a more active role in the boy's life.
'You've got to get these mothers out of the way,'
Green told the parents of one seven-year-old.
'Feminine kids don't need their mothers around.'
(Dean Hamer. The Science of Desire,
(Simon and Schuster (1994)) :99-100)
The Faerie Godmother
Ward Stewart wrote in message
>On Sat, 1 Apr 2000 08:45:59 +0200, "The Faerie Godmother"
><faerieg...@africamail.com> wrote:
>>What higher crime rate?
>>What higher need for socialism?
>>What greater need for HIV spending?
>>What etc.?
>>What bills do "infantile homophiles" cause?
>MOIRA dear -- you are asking sensible questions of WATSON!
Have you
>forgotten yourself --
>There is no one there!
I keep hoping that one day I will educate him - or even that
one day I will wake up and discover that he has educated me
:-). In the meantime I continue to post for the benefit of
the lurkers.
Moira, the Faerie Godmother.
Christopher J. Watson
The Faerie Godmother wrote:
> Christopher J. Watson wrote in message
> >Can\"Ms\"Laura wrote:
>
> >> Since when do straight people have to "put up with"
> homosexual behavior?
>
> >You're for treating homosexuality on a par with
> heterosexuality. Heterosexual
> >behavior is "put up with" all the time.
>
> What's wrong with treating homosexuality on a par with
> heterosexuality?
What's right with it?
"The Face suggests that gayness is becoming increasingly
attractive to straight young people ("more drugs better
clubs, no responsibilities, all the best DJs and a
religious devotion to hedonistic excess ...... Aids remains
a risk, but one that is willingly taken .......
I remember a similar time during the early 1980s when
I lived in New York's East Village and saw many
young men become gay for no better reason than peer
pressure. I prefer not to think about what came after."
(Sunday Times (London)
December 27, 1998, Sunday
Features: Any colour, so long as it's pink
Byline: Philip Norman)
> The argument is that heterosexual
> behaviour *is* tolerated - no problem. The same indifferent
> attitude *should* be applied to homosexuality.
It already is for the most part. Tolerance is not approval.
<snip>
> >I am not irrational. I am effected by higher crime rates,
> a higher need for
> >socialism, HIV spending, etc. Someone has to pay the bills
> and clean up after
> >infantile homophiles, you know.
>
> What higher crime rate?
Let's use Brighton, the Netherlands/Amsterdam as examples of your
ideology of Hedonism and approval of homosexuality.
"I livein Brighton which is famed for it's homosexual
population and everyones chilled vibe. I don't
see hear read about anything that gays do
that is any more absurd than straight people."
Keeping in mind Mr. Chesterton's
hypothesis: "Tolerance is the highest
virtue for those who have no others."
"Railway ticket inspectors on one of the most dangerous routes
in Britain are to be given police escorts after a series of
attacks by passengers wielding guns, baseball bats and knives.
So many staff have been attacked on Connex South Central's
Brighton to Worthing line that some have been too
frightened to go to work. Others have hidden in the guards'
compartments, too afraid to come out and check tickets.
The line is the first to be given police protection under Operation
Andromeda, a campaign which could be extended
to other routes with high crime rates.
Inspectors have been assaulted and threatened with weapons,
spat at, punched and flung to the ground. There have
also been dramatic increases in assaults on
passengers and a rise in robberies, vandalism and arson.
Last year there were 890 crimes on the line, a rise of 14
per cent on the previous year."
(The Observer
June 29, 1997, Sunday
News Page; Pg. 13
Police to Ride On Bandit Trains.
Byline: Lucy Johnston)
"It has emerged that many towns and cities south of the
Border are far worse off than Glasgow and Strathclyde,
with - surprisingly - Brighton and Hove having the
highest per capita drug death rate in the UK."
(The Herald (Glasgow)
September 4, 1999 Pg. 8
Adverse publicity is the price for honesty
Byline: James Freeman)
"Gays in one of Britain's main hotspots for HIV-transmission
are still practising widespread unsafe sex, according to
the largest survey conducted of the homosexual community.
Project Zorro, a survey of the sexual lifestyle of gay men
comes at a time when Brighton's HIV infection rate has
increased at 12 times the national average.
Gay activists claim that anti-HIV spending has often not
been clearly targeted at gay men, despite the fact that
most infections involve them. In Brighton, the figure
is 90 per cent.
...... collated evidence from 1,200
gay and bisexual men in the town, produc[ed] unequivocal
evidence that widespread knowledge of safe sex practices
was not matched by actual sexual habits. An estimated
one in three sexual acts was unsafe.
A quarter of gay men surveyed did not know or ask about the
HIV status of their sexual partners; at least three-quarters,
including a significant slice of these in long-term relationships,
indulged in casual sex with "trade"; many thought HIV infection
levels were static or even falling; the use of Aids helplines was
minimal; and
gay men tended to avoid using clinics for sexually
transmitted diseases (STDs).
James Ledward, a Project Zorro organiser, described
Zorro's key findings as "deeply disturbing".
"What the research shows very strongly is that gay men do not
associate themselves with HIV. We're paying the price for
everybody thinking it was sussed down here. But it isn't."
......"
"The Independent (London)
March 30, 1998, Monday
News; Page 3
Gay men ignoring advice on Aids avoidance
Byline: Jay Merrick)
"Brighton's suicide rate is the second highest in Britain - neighbouring
Hastings has an even worse problem....."
(Sunday Mirror
September 20, 1998, Sunday
News; Pg. 20
Brighton to Appoint Full Time Suicide-Preventer.
Byline: Tamsin Smith)
"A convicted paedophile who founded a string of children's homes
today denied he lavished gifts on boys in return for sexual favours
and their silence. ....... He also denied paying young men to keep
them silent after they left the facilities and denied
setting them up in new homes in Brighton to make sexual contacts.
........."
(Press Association Newsfile
February 17, 1998, Tuesday
Home News
Paedophile Denies 'Gifts For Sex Regimes' at Home.
Byline: Melanie Harvey, PA News)
Amsterdam:
"Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was embroiled
in an acrimonious political row yesterday after
she was quoted as complaining about the high crime rate in
Amsterdam.....
According to reports leaked to newspapers, she told
a group of Dutch parliamentarians that she was
always "relieved" whenever her sons went out on the town in
Brussels or London rather than Amsterdam, a
city she has indicated she considers unsafe."
(The Daily Telegraph (London)
February 12, 1999, Friday Pg. 17
International: Amsterdam is unsafe, says Queen Beatrix
Byline: By Joan Clements in The Hague)
"White House drug policy director Barry McCaffrey
yesterday rejected a rebuke from the Netherlands
for calling liberal Dutch drug policies a crime-ridden
"disaster" and pledged to repeat the charge - backed
with evidence - in Amsterdam.
In an unusual diplomatic showdown planned for
tomorrow, the retired Army general said he
will jet into the Netherlands with new Interpol
drug and crime statistics to declare that nation's
drug policies a failure. ......
Specifically:
The Netherlands' murder rate of 17.58 per
100,000 is twice the U.S. rate of 8.22 per 100,000.
The Dutch theft rate is 5,799 per 100,000 vs.
4,813 per 100,000 in the United States.
30.2 percent of Dutch youth say they have
tried marijuana, vs. 9.1 percent in the United States."
(The Washington Times
July 15, 1998, Wednesday, Final Edition
Part A; Nation; Pg. A4
McCaffrey takes his charge to officials in Netherlands;
Has Interpol data showing Dutch drug policy is failure
Byline: Paul Bedard)
"To finance their drug habits, addicts often resort to
theft, prostitution and drug dealing themselves.
Amsterdam's petty crime rate ranks among the
highest in Europe. The Dutch city's red light district
is as world renowned for its ladies in the store
windows as it is for its free-wheeling drug pushers."
(Financial Times (London)
July 19, 1986, Saturday
Section I; Overseas News; Pg. 3
Amsterdam Keeps Its Place As Drugs Capital
Byline: Laura Raun)
"Almost 75 per cent of the population wants the
authorities to take tougher action against the trade
in and use of drugs, according to a survey conducted by the
Amsterdam University's Telepanel bureau.
The bureau also found that 73 per cent of those
surveyed believed the Dutch authorities were
too lenient towards drug users, while 56
per cent said the fight against drugs could be
won with stronger action from the authorities.
Almost 20 per cent believed the fight has
already been lost.
The current policy of tolerating soft drugs in
small quantities found the support of only 11 per
cent of those questioned, while 13 per cent
supported further liberalisation of drugs policy
as the best way of fighting professional
drugs trade and related crime."
(ANP English News Bulletin
August 30, 1995
Majority of Population Wants Tougher Drug Policy.
Dateline: Amersterdam)
"....Dutch painting of the 17th century is one of the
greatest peaks of artistic achievement in all history,
and at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam this
month there is a still-life exhibition that amply
illustrates that glorious past.
Outside the museum there is still-life of a different kind;
chronic alcoholics lie sleeping in the broad passage
between the west and south entrances to the magnificent museum.
They spread their mess and litter around them and when
they wake, they shout abuse. No one moves them on,
because to do so would be considered unacceptably
moralistic and judgmental.
To go from the streets where the crowds congregate to queue
for the exhibition is to pass from madness to sanity,
from noise to tranquillity, from ugliness to beauty,
and from barbarism - prosperous and high-tech,
but barbarism nonetheless - to civilisation.
For me, the still-life paintings provide not only the starkest
possible contrast with the new cultural identity the Dutch
have chosen for themselves - one of utter
permissiveness - but a welcome relief from it.
It isn't easy to say why, after more than three centuries, these
paintings should retain the power to move the viewer so intensely.
The pictures vary from exuberantly colourful portrayals of
bouquets of flowers, to austere depictions of items
of daily use such as plates and knives: but all the
objects painted are observed with a detail that could
emerge only from a love of, and wonderment at, the beauty of Creation.
Nothing is taken for granted. Even the humble salt herring is
seen as an object of beauty - it was, of course, the staff of life in
Holland. All these paintings exemplify
an attitude of respect for the world,
even a religious awe of it. As the Dutch philosopher Erasmus
wrote: 'Moreover, we are twice pleased when we see a
painted flower competing with a living one.
In one we admire the artifice of Nature, in the other the genius
of the painter, in each the goodness of God.' The contrast
between this attitude and that of people attracted by the seedier
aspects of modern Amsterdam could not be greater nor more depressing.
The astonishing tawdriness and vulgarity that is now one of the
greatest tourist attractions of this city occurs in buildings that
are themselves of supreme beauty: for the Dutch domestic architecture
of the 17th and early 18th centuries has seldom been equalled and never
surpassed.
The use to which these buildings are quite openly put is a
disgraceful reflection on modern man and his utter lack
of respect for the achievements of his forefathers.
Prostitutes occupy the famous full-length windows in cubicles
that give out on to the streets, tapping on the glass with
their rings to attract the custom of the passing
crowds, who trudge mechanically by in search of some
kind of sensation that they think will satisfy them.
There seems to be an area for fat prostitutes and thin - all tastes
being
catered for. Behind the prostitutes - most of them imported
from the Third World - one can see their beds.
When a customer arrives, a heavy curtain is drawn: the glass
window and the curtain being all that separates the
copulating couple from the crowds outside.
The presence of hundreds of coffee shops where cannabis is
freely available - as well, increasingly, as hallucinogenic
mushrooms - and whose philosophy is that
individual self-indulgence is the height to which Man
can aspire, does not create a happy or even jovial atmosphere.
On the contrary, the crowds look notably glum, as if liberation
from restraint had not resulted in the expected happiness.
Indeed, such lack of restraint is not really a pleasure at all.
It is mere obedience to convention rather than a spontaneous
expression of joie de vivre - of which the
still-life paintings are so powerful and intense an example.
The Dutch were once a strait-laced people and their new-found
liberalism is no doubt a reaction to their more restrictive past.
Where once everything was forbidden, everything is permitted:
......
For example, a Dutch friend told me that during a recent
homosexual festival, men had sex in public on barges
that floated down Amsterdam's beautiful canals, and
no one intervened to stop it: first because to have done
so would have looked like prejudice against the men - the
worst of all accusations that can be laid against
anybody and second because the liberal conscience is always
seeking new taboos to break. [There is a strong sociopolitical
movement for paedophilia, but of course.]
But the modern hedonism of the Dutch has nevertheless
a distinctly puritanical air, as if, in abandoning restraint,
they are performing a sacred duty - which explains
why it is so joyless. They are proud of their liberalism - it
has become part of their national identity - and they regard
themselves as being in advance of everyone else.
Where else in the world but Amsterdam do you find a Prostitution
Information Centre that informs potential customers
of the protocol they should follow?
Founded by a former prostitute, it offers courses in both elementary
and advanced prostitution. On the walls there are photographs
of the bad old days, when prostitution was a furtive, hidden
business, a subject for blushes and evasion in polite company.
There is a photograph from the 1920s of a tobacconist's
shop that, behind its respectable facade, was a well-known brothel.
How primitive and hypocritical, we are supposed to think. Since
prostitution is, like poverty, ever with us, it is much better
that it should be out in the open.
For my part, I found the idea of the tobacconist-fronted brothel
not primitive, but a sophisticated and civilised recognition
of the need for public decorum, whatever citizens' private desires.
Of course, advocates of such openness, both about prostitution
and drug-taking, argue that it reduces the harms associated with these
activities.
Prostitution, once it is no longer something concealed and
in the shadows, but a normal business like any other,
will not be dominated by pimps - those violent, unscrupulous
men who can be seen hovering round the corner from where
I write this, while they survey the activities of their underage
streetwalkers. Similarly drugs, when a commodity like
any other, will not entail criminal activity.
This has turned out to be nonsense, of course. Amsterdam
is one of the most violent and crime-ridden cities in Europe.
The murder rate is higher than in London,
and even petty crime is prevalent.
Around my hotel, for example, broken bicycle locks were strewn
about the pavement. And the crime rate remains high
despite the evident prosperity and the fact
that the general level of education is very good.
It's said that the Russian Mafia has moved into the exploitation
of Dutch prostitution, and certainly there are many
prostitutes from the former Soviet empire.
A liberal attitude to vice does not turn it into virtue, or even
limit its harm: it simply spreads it. And despite the
assertion that prostitution is a trade like any other,
everyone knows in their heart that this is untrue.
Prostitutes in Amsterdam don't want their photos taken. But
why not, if what they are doing is no different from taxi-driving?
And why does one feel sorry for them that they exhibit themselves
like animals in a zoo, for the titillation of the public
and for a pittance, if what they do is fundamentally good and
honourable?
The Dutch of the 17th century understood the need for public moderation.
Some of the still-life paintings carried this message, implicitly and
explicitly.
A painting called Allegory Of Temperance shows a wine glass
flanked by a pot of water and a jug of wine. Above these
vessels hangs a horse's bridle, symbolic of
the need to limit the expression of one's appetites.
Suspended from the table on which the vessels stand,
held by the wine glass, is a piece of music, with the
following lyric: 'That which is without measure meets
immeasurable evil.' The irony is that the painter of this
picture, Johannes Torrentius, was himself famed for
his outrageous conduct: so outrageous, in fact, that he was
imprisoned, and released only on the intercession of King
Charles I, who appreciated his paintings and thought
it a pity that his talent should moulder in jail.
Of course, what Man preaches and how Man behaves have
always been very different. No denunciations of theft or
laws against stealing have ever eliminated burglary.
But no one suggests that the only possible solution to the problem
is to allow everyone to enter anywhere and take whatever
he fancies. Or that the only way of eliminating hypocrisy from
human life is to uphold no standards whatsoever.
The still-life paintings do not, therefore, suggest that the Dutch
of their golden century were an entirely virtuous people:
there is a whole genre of paintings depicting
their vices. But they do suggest that they were striving
towards something, and in the process created one
of the glories of world civilisation.
Today's Amsterdam is vulgar and trivial by contrast: it
is like a civilised city that has been occupied by barbarians.
Alas, many of those barbarians are British tourists, displaying the
kind of charmless and stupid crudity which is now, sadly,
our strongest national characteristic."
(Daily Mail (London) August 21, 1999
Pg. 20;21 A Warning From the Heart Of Sin City.
"Once They Poured Their Puritan Faith Into Glorious Works of Art.
Now With the Same Fervour, Amersterdam's
Elite are Destroying The Foundations Of Civilised Society.
Byline: Anthony Daniels)
"A children's rights activist group in Holland has
led police to an international child pornography
ring that distributed through the Internet pictures
of drugged, abused and raped babies. The Spanish
newspapers El Mundo and El Pais say today police
found more than 9,000 pornographic pictures of
children between the ages of 12 and 24 months stored
in diskettes and CD-ROM when they raided a home
in Zandvoort outside of Amsterdam. Police say the
home belonged to a suspected member of the
pornography ring, who was murdered recently in
Italy. El Mundo said the suspect had apparently
been killed by an accomplice, also from Holland,
when he tried to leave the group. El Mundo
newspaper said the ring has links in the United
States, Russia and Israel. The newspapers say psychologist Wim
Wolters, a specialist in cases of child abuse,
told Holland television, ''In all of my professional
life I had not seen more shocking images.'' .....
Police say they have been investigating the existence
of a child pornography group in and around
Amsterdam for some time."
(United Press International
July 17, 1998, Friday, BC cycle
International
Child pornography ring discovered
Dateline: Amsterdam, Holland, July 17)
> What higher need for socialism?
Hedonism creates a higher need for socialism.
Members of the religious left such as yourself attack the family to
increase state power.
> What greater need for HIV spending?
See Brighton, above.
> What etc.?
Higher domestic violence rates..
> What bills do "infantile homophiles" cause?
Those related to HIV/STD spending and the like.