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The Slippery Slope of Liberalism
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 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 The Other McCain
DaMav, 
Potluck 
Ronald Williams 1:32 AM on 12/11/2010 Permalink |
I couldn’t agree more
zillaoftheresistance 8:54 AM on 12/11/2010 Permalink |
Here’s what I wrote at McCain’s AmSpec post in the subject (screaming toddler on my side so lazy me will just C&P):
I don’t understand how anyone can defend this. Sure, at 21 the girl is legally an adult, but think back to how you were at 21, I’m willing to wager that you were not the pillar of maturity and responsibility.
In your early 20s you are still impressionable and your parents’ often still help you to get by in the world by providing financial or emotional support. A 21 year old’s parent still has the ability to hurt their child and their love is still important.
While this girl may have been legally old enough to consent, i highly doubt she was making an informed and rational decision when she let her father sleep with her. He likely had been grooming her for years. Something happened to this child that left her unable to cross the bridge into adulthood as a normal person, something happened to this child that made her think there was nothing wrong with her own father having sex with her.
If anyone took the time to look closer, they’d probably see a girl who has been subject to abuse for a very long time before she was of ‘legal age’.
backyardconservative 10:47 AM on 12/11/2010 Permalink |
Maybe we should explain it to liberals this way–imagine this guy had said his religion allows it–OUTRAGE.
zillaoftheresistance 10:59 AM on 12/11/2010 Permalink |
Yeah, unless his religion happens to be islam – then it’s OK.
DaMav 2:24 PM on 12/11/2010 Permalink |
One can barely imagine the difference in response from these liberals if a similiar charge involved one of the Palins instead of a Huffpo contributing member of the liberal elite at Columbia.
Just look at the the wave of gay bashing that emanates from the left whenever Larry Craig’s name comes up.