Sunday, May 15, 2011

Thoughts on Osama bin Laden's porn stash and American freedom


So pornography has been found on those computers taken from Osama bin Laden's hideout. Does this prove his hypocrisy? Yes, if it was his, but, even if it was, I'm not sure it's such a shocking revelation. Would we really be surprised to learn that Osama didn't always live up to his extremist ideals?

Sure, he criticized the West for its lax morals and open sexuality, but hypocrisy aside, was he wrong? Consider, without prejudice (if possible), what he once wrote to the American people:

Your nation exploits women like consumer products or advertising tools, calling upon customers to purchase them. You plaster your naked daughters across billboards in order to sell a product without any shame. You have brainwashed your daughters into believing they are liberated by wearing revealing clothes, yet in reality all they have liberated is your sexual desire.

I realize it's not a popular to defend anything about the man, but was he wrong about this? I remain committed to liberal principles and to a liberal way of life, including the liberation of sexual desire and freedom to express ourselves however we please, but I am also troubled by the exploitation of women and sexualization of children that are polluting our culture and interfering with the mature, reasoned expression of our liberty.

This is a far more important issue than Osama's alleged hypocrisy. But try telling that to the media, which prefer titillation to any sort of mature, rational discussion of sexuality and, more broadly, of American and Western culture.

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posted by Michael J.W. Stickings at 12:15 PM

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2 Comments:

  • .

    Calling BS on this whole subject. The source for the story is Murdock Inc, known publishing liars. Nothing printed by any entity attached to Rupert Murdock can be trusted.

    This story is made up.

    Ema Nymton
    ~@:o?
    .

    By Blogger Ema Nymton, at 12:27 PM  

  • You may be right, Ema, and there's always good reason to be skeptical of anything appearing in a Murdock media outlet, but according to the NYT it was Reuters that first reported the claim, citing U.S. officials. Reuters is part of Thomson-Reuters, the Thomson part being Canadian.

    Of course, these officials may be lying. We've seen that the U.S. has been trying to undermine the myth of Osama through dishonesty. Remember when we were told that he used a woman as a human shield and that he lived in a million-dollar mansion? And I wouldn't necessarily put it by Reuters (or Thomson) either to report an official story without really checking it or to play along knowingly with such dishonesty. Or just to make shit up.

    Even if there was porn on those computers, though, there's no evidence that it was Osama's or that he really was such a hypocrite. There is apparently an emormous amount of information on the computers and they were likely used by many different people over the years.

    To me, the point is that what Osama did was enough. What's the point of trying to make him seem even worse?

    By Blogger Michael J.W. Stickings, at 1:05 PM  

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