Comments on: The things they do look awful cold

By: Ruthie

Ruthie — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:59:17 +0000

…not like there are many 8 - 11 year old girls who are actively planning to have premarital sex to begin with.

Years ago that might have been true; but now all bets are off. In the middle of PromiseSeekerLand in NC, one junior high shut down for a day after two seventh graders engaged in oral sex on a dare in front of the whole classroom while the teacher briefly stepped outside into the hallway. The District brought in a SWAT-style trauma team of psychologists and social workers to reassure the kiddies exposed to the “horrors,” for the next few weeks. I’m sure the whole experience paled in comparison to the water buffaloes “going at it” on “Animal Planet.”

By: Nylund

Nylund — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:43:52 +0000

So let me get this straight, the dad holds a sword over his daughter’s neck as he asks her to make this purity pledge? Am I reading that correctly? I’d promise my dad a lot of things if he had a sword above my head, not like there are many 8 - 11 year old girls who are actively planning to have premarital sex to begin with.

Assuming kids did actually keep this pledge, the likely outcome is to have a whole bunch of 18 year olds getting married, and a whole lotta 22 year olds getting divorced.

And didn’t Britney Spears and Jessica Simpson both promise to save themselves for marriage (and I think Jessica may actually have). Look how well that worked out.

By: Nylund

Nylund — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 06:37:37 +0000

I have an idea! Maybe if the daughter has sex and breaks her promise of purity, we should stone her for destroying the family honor.

What do these people think? Do they honestly believe that when this girl is drunk out her head on the local hillbilly moonshine that she’s gonna stop half-way to third base to insist that her equally drunk boyfriend go to her house and get to know her parent’s first? Because, if teenagers are known for one thing, its being completely honest and straightforward with their parents and making wise responsible decisions.

By: paulbeard

paulbeard — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:05:20 +0000

The 9 kids/7 women thing is bad enough, but Stage 4 inoperable lung cancer and he’s still smoking? Granted, quitting won’t change anything but the example might do some good. He never planned to have children by seven different women: wonder if he has ever heard the old saw “failure to plan is planning to fail”? As a professional animal breeder, I think he understands the mechanics . . . .

By: dsduryea

dsduryea — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:12:31 +0000

when Wilson met one of Khrystian’s potential suitors at a local Starbucks

Noooooo! Doesn’t he know that’s where they offer abortions while you wait?

By: Peterr

Peterr — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:57:58 +0000

Nice post, TBogg.

Here is my secret to being a good dad:

Don’t be an fucking idiot.

As a pastor and the father of a six year old, let me say that you’ve summed it up nicely. On behalf of my 6 year old, thanks for the advice.

Down the road, if I’m ever fortunate enough to have him ask me where I got advice on being a good dad, I’ll pass your name along.

By: cygirl

cygirl — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:11:43 +0000

Ass for a hat. I’m going to use that, thanks…

In high school, one of my friends dated the son of a well-known local fundie doctor, who was completely obsessed that my friend was going to steal his boy’s “virtue.” Went out and got him a “promise ~~not to have sex after midnight~~ sex at all till married” ring for him and everything, eventually forcing them to break up.

The son’s next course of action? I’m not making this up- getting a girl pregnant on a church choir trip.

By: comsympinko

comsympinko — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:55:40 +0000

To all the Silver Ring, Purity Dad and Promise Keeper-types:

Those little trinkets with which you just took hostage your preteen daughter’s sexuality are going to look pretty funny on her a few years from now when some guy (or girl) is wearing her ass for a hat.

Jus’ sayin.’

By: aimai

aimai — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:21:38 +0000

Oh, forgot to comment on this from the post up above:

Out on the terrace under an almost moon, the black swans have vanished into the lake. David Diefenderfer has slipped outside for a cigarette; he’s a leathery South Dakotan in a big black cowboy hat, and he hands over his card. HAVE GUN, WILL TRAVEL: BREEDER SERVICE, it says, with a picture of a syringe. He’s in the cattle-reproduction business. He’s also the father of nine children by seven women.
”

This reminds me irresistibly of a line from Modesty Blaise

“Keep at it, old son, and maybe you’ll figure out what causes it, eh?”

By: aimai

aimai — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:18:49 +0000

sophronia,
You are *so* right. I know it just rolls right off my husband’s back because he’s utterly clueless but I’ve certainly had people say stuff like that to me. My oldest daughter is eleven, and, to my biased eyes, very beautiful (probably won’t last if the rest of the family is any clue) but I had another woman walk up to me and say “you’d better get a dog” and I said “what?” and she said “to keep the boys away!” Keep the boys away? She’s fucking eleven and she’s a foot taller than the boys in her class. I’ve heard tons of this shit and we live in the most liberal, evolue (accent here) kind of place. I’m just stunned by how obsessed people are with girls/beauty/sex when the rest of us are worrying about the cost of education and the future jobs they’ll have. I mean, jesus, sex is just *one part of life* its not everything. Its not even everything when you are a teenager, its often just a marker of other stuff or a way of keeping social score in the hierarchy.

And hey, tbogg, I feel like I’ve been touched by…hm…well, not an angel, of course, but I feel honored you descended to the mud pit that is your own comments section. You are a great dad and really an inspiration to the rest of us.

aimai