NBA Gone Las Vegas

OK.  I am officially old now. This is a confession that those who know me would probably chuckle about as one look at me tends to confirm my chronological status.  But I ascribe to the idea that the clock and the spirit do not run at the same pace. I have always considered myself 'youthful' in attitude and outlook.  I embrace new technology and changing styles in clothes and social structure. At least I thought I did. I have been alarmingly aware of the onset of bahhumbugism in my distaste for pants that barely cling to a young man's bottom, to music which has no melody, to poorly researched and phrased news reports and to the apparent evaporation of the difference between 'less' and 'fewer'.  However, I have steadfastly rejected grunting and saying "That's the problem with today's youth" as my parents frequently spouted over the breakfast table. So what has changed?

Last night I watched the NBA All Star Game. I really love basketball and the idea that all these great players would be pitted against each other fueled my imagination. I was looking forward to a game played with spirit and determination, a great competition that would showcase the highly honed skills of professional athletes. It wasn't a good game, it was lackluster and almost a parody of itself but this isn't about the game...it's about the presentation of the game.

NE-YO performs before the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013, in Houston. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

What's with the smoke and the lights and the whole Las Vegas atmosphere? What's with the announcer, sounding like he is opening some pro-wrestler match?  The coaches and the players looked downright embarrassed!  And then came the dancers.  It now seems that choreographers have succumbed to the idea that grabbing one's genitals and generally mimicking the sex act is dance.  I have never been to a strip club, have never seen pole dancers, lap dances or dancers outside of films but I have studied dance and the line between pornography and art is not that hard to identify. Shelley Winters once said, "I think on stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American.  But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience."  Am I merely reflecting that sort of age-reality distorted disconnect? I hope not.  She was being funny but when we have barely clothed women dancers rubbing their vaginas on barely clothed male dancers on stage during prime time ATHLETIC stagings, how long before we have the actual sex act thrust on us with a musical beat behind it so we can call it art?  I am certainly not prudish nor am I in favor of censorship but it seems there IS a gradual decline in our character as a people when we accept and promote the distortion of art to appeal solely to prurient and commercial interests. Dance is a beautiful art form which CAN authentically and artistically capture the magic of the sexual attraction between the sexes, it can present the irresistible magnetic attraction between two people, it can reflect the poetry and the violence that can exist in the act, but it should do so in appropriate venues, before an appropriate audience.  With every presentation that lowers the bar of our expectations we lower our standards for the NEXT event with flashing lights and smoke machines and force our dancers to prostitute their art.

6th Grade Passions

As far as I can remember, a 6th grader is about 12 years old. Well, imagine this...the honorable governor of the State of Texas has mandated, by virtue of an executive order, that all sixth grade female students must be innoculated against the Human Papiloma Virus before entering the 6th grade. Now, HPV is a sexually transmitted disease...in other words, you guys, in order to need the vaccine you must first be sexaully active. You don't even run a outside chance of getting HPV from kissing or from sharing a straw with your milk shake. Oh! How gauche! Nobody does that anymore and as far as I know, no one makes milk shakes either!

Anyway, the point is that this mandate assumes that 6th graders are the at risk for sexually transmitted diseases. And sad as it makes me to say this, I think that a good number of 6th graders may well be at risk. And certainly, as the grade increases the ability of our youngsters to behave in a manner that contributes to their welfare decreases. But what ticks me off is that no one seems to be mentioning the obvious...not whether the governor has the right to mandate this, not whether the vaccine should be administered to boys as well, not whether there are risks associated with the vaccine. No...the issue really should be "how have we degenerated to the point where we pacifically accept the fact that 12 year olds are engaged in sexual activity?"

The issue is more approriately, "Where are the parents?" "Are the parents incapable of teaching their daughters about the safe use of their bodies?" At least, ladies and gentlemen, before the age of 12? Sad, but true...some parents, many parents ARE incapable of teaching morals...OK! There is the word...morals and morality. I consider myself a very liberal person but when sexual activity is pushed toward the young age of 12 by default we will have youngsters who are not mature enough to understand the consequences and responsibility of sexual activity thrown into situations they cannot cope with. And I am not going to throw the age old cliché of "thrusting the financial responsibilty of their irresponsibility on society and decent tax payers."

No, I am not going to go that route...but I am going to denounce the vicious circle that is produced when irresponsible people become parents. They inevitably produce irresponsible children. We are living with the first and second generation of irresponsible children. How can we expect to survive as a society with another iterration of irresponsibility? Governor Perry...worry less about HPV and more about the society that is producing a state full of 12 year olds who are sexually active.