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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   36940 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 22, 2024

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I think RR has a skill with the pen that few others have, but he is also a fabulist and a weirdo and that color's my view of this book (and did at the time I first read it). RR, if you don't know, a bit before writing this book also penned a piece about taking his 14 year old son to see a SI photoshoot. When you are around that age you find him to be the coolest dad. When you realize he's probably committing several misdemeanors and are a dad, you realize he's being an irresponsible dad. And obviously not all he is saying makes sense at all.

So in the end is this account of Trump true? Perhaps portions of it are. Trump probably hit some decent shots. Did he hit a 310 yard shot? Probably not. It was probably 299. Still great, but not up to RR storytelling standards. So IDK what really happened on that golf course, but I do know nothing happened that RR thought was BAD happened, because RR the fabulist could contrive Trump glancing at the shirt of a woman wearing nothing but a wet white tee into sexual assault. So just take every 10 and make it a 7 and move on from there.

What was the thing with the 14 year old?

He took his freshman son to at least two Sports Illustrated swimsuit photoshoots on a beach in Hawaii, after telling the boy’s mother that they were going to Hawaii to learn to surf. He then wrote an article about it.

Sports illustrated swimsuit models are wearing swimsuits. They're not strippers.

Pretty soon, women hot enough to ignite concrete were shaking Kel's hand with their right hands while trying to cover up their nude top halves with their lefts--and these were not the kind of halves easily covered up with one left hand.

Apparently, as befits a photoshoot where the models tend to change clothes often, they were not wearing swimsuits all the time.

Whether you believe that it was, or was likely to be, a bad experience for the kid is another matter.

Also the photographers are all weirdos as well, plus the ole lying to the kids mom about it.

This might be a weird form of tradition, but I find it quite normal and good for a father and teenage son to have "don't tell your mother" moments together. I don't find it particularly offensive in concept for a mother and daughter to have "don't tell your father" moments, either, though I find thinking of them to be more difficult as I am not a woman.

... What's the bad thing here?

If you read the article, the dad just comes across as a bit of a skeeve. He gives off South Park police “Nice” vibes.

It got worse. One model was changing out of her suit behind a towel. When she kicked off her bikini bottom, it went flying in the air, did a 2 1/2 gainer and landed on Kel's shoulder. He grinned. She grinned. In many states she could do three to five for that. I was thinking that if she did it to me, I would gladly do the time.

The way the article is written definitely comes off as more of a crime to me than the actual act of bringing the teen to swimsuit photoshoots.

I can agree, however, that we have a Schelling fence of "thou shalt not let underage people be in sexually charged situations with adult people" for a reason, even though some might believe that such situations are more desirable for teen boys than teen girls.

"drag queen moms" do creepier shit than that with little kids at the local library and nobody gives a shit. They've just criminalized male sexuality to the point everyone's internalized it.

I give a shit, as do most people here. It’s perfectly possible to find both sets of behavior off-putting or immoral.

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