Jarring & Provocative

One would think that at this ripe old age of eighty nothing would really shock me anymore. However, it seems that some things can surprisingly still do exactly that! Scrolling through the TV Guide one morning I saw in the C-Span Book TV programming a title that absolutely intrigued me, and I thought to myself that this was a must listen to discussion. It took place at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington DC between Charlotte Clymer, the interviewer, and Gabrielle Blair, the writer of this “jarring and provocative” book titled: Ejaculate Responsibly: A Whole New Way to Think About Abortion. Well, I mused: it must take a whole lot of chutzpah to pen such a title, right?I also doubt that I, or anyone else had ever really thought of anything even close to that!

The premise of Blair’s book is that the onus for pregnancy and abortion has always fallen on Females, and, she believes, that this is very wrong, mainly, because Females cannot impregnate themselves. It is Males who do that, and, therefore, it should be Their Responsibility to avoid impregnating a Female by taking the necessary precautions such as using Condoms, or other methods. The author certainly makes a very sensible point, doesn’t she? I agree with her, and I am also very wary of the fact that we, Females, have to ingest Pills that could have adverse effects on our bodies; or have to undergo a D&C (Dilation and Curettage) after a miscarriage, or an abortion where chemicals are used in the process whose effects on us, or on our future children are unknown; or use a variety of other available methods in order to avoid getting pregnant in the first place. That should not be solely our responsibility, rather, it is time for Males to take it on. The whole discussion was certainly very interesting, and it might make us wonder: Why is it that Males have always caused so much turmoil in our World from Wars to Anything To Do With A Female’s Biological Body and to a lot of Other Invasive and Controlling Matters?

Blair, and this new breed of writers that is cropping up in novels, articles, podcasts, blogs, lectures etc. are leaving no stone unturned, no issue unaddressed, no subject a taboo. They are compelling us to look at issues from perspectives that might never have occurred to us. We might agree, or disagree with their premises, however, we cannot ignore them, which is a good thing. Whether they address sex, family planning, LGBTQ+ concerns, voting suppression, capital punishment, cruel prison systems, torture, rape, discrimination, bigotry, arrogance, colonialism, white male supremacy, corporate greed, climate change, wars with all their dire ramifications, or Any Issues that end up, in one way or another, affecting all of us, they are doing us a great service.

Where Many Men are concerned, whether they are Ejaculating Irresponsibly, or found in the Political and Corporate corridors of Power and Greed, I always wonder: how do they sleep at night without having nightmares? How do they look at their faces in their mirrors without cringing? Sadly, they have no qualms, no pangs of guilt. However, the hope is that numerous numbers of those from the Millennial Generations and down to the Zee Generations are totally unlike those many Irresponsible  Males, Politicians and Corporate Honchos. They are assuming their Responsibilities on so many fronts whether Sexually, or Otherwise and manifesting traits that we can all be proud of. They are the future that promises to be better. That is terrific!

Unfortunately, because we have Glorified Power and Money to this nauseating extent, the Informative and Well-thought-out essays and discussions such as the Clymer/Blair program that I loved have become the purview of the Few, while the Irrelevant and Mundane often goes Viral and becomes Fact, because it generates more Clicks and more Advertising Money. How dangerous is that? It is Irresponsible, Immoral and Unconscientious!

Moreover, and with the proliferation of countless media platforms and outlets, spewing out Manufactured Issues, Lies, Fraud, Spam, Wicked Information and a whole lot of Artificial Posing and Staged Events that so many are buying into, believing and acting upon is quite disconcerting. And, truly mind-boggling is the amount of Superficiality, Gull-ability, and Ignorance that exists. Unfortunately, since it is obvious that with so much Information and Misinformation hitting us every day and from everywhere, it rests upon each individual one of us to be discerning. It is up to us!

The other aspect that worries me is that an interview, or book such as the one I am referencing in this essay hardly ever reaches the populations that would benefit greatly from such knowledge. I always wonder how can we, as responsible humans, make such material available to those who need it most, but who are not even aware of its existence? I don’t have an answer, but I hope that there is one somewhere out there! Certainly Educational Bodies from Schools to Colleges and Universities should adjust their curricula to meet our present century’s requirements. so that instead of teaching students information that Google, Yahoo, or Siri can give them in one second they would be better serving our young citizens on how best to navigate through the tons of Information and Misinformation coming at them from all sides.

Lastly, the fact that so many Corrupt, Self-serving Politicians on the Extreme Right are making a Huge Hullabaloo regarding Abortion, Banning Books, ramming The Bible and cherry-picking some of its sayings down our throats and all such related matters is simply their lame effort to remain in Control of our Bodies, and hence our Minds. Quite Pathetic! However, it is close to impossible to be trying to Talibanize us and return this democracy – faltering as it is presently – to the Dark Ages! It simply cannot happen, because no Self-respecting Educated Woman living in a Free and Democratic Society, and whether she is on the Left, Middle, or Right would allow going back to being a Male Vassal and Vessel!