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A liberal lesson
A fifth grade teacher in California made a video of herself engaged in sexual activity (the story doesn’t say with whom), then she accidentally put the video on a DVD containing school memories of the past year that was intended for her pupils and their families, and sent the DVD to the pupils’ homes, where at least one family, watching the school video in the company of their son, suddenly were treated to footage of their son’s teacher, Crystal Defanti, in flagrante delicto, or rather in flagrante defanti. The reporter quotes “defense expert” Ken Rosenfeld saying that the teacher ought to be disciplined, but that of course she shouldn’t lose her job over this, as it wasn’t intentional. The reporter does not quote a single local person or outside expert calling for the teacher’s firing or questioning whether a woman who makes X-rated videos of herself should be teaching in an elementary school. So, what we have here is (1) private consensual sexual activity, which is of course completely free (any remaining state and local laws pertaining to private consensual acts were eliminated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence v. Texas), plus (2) an accident. Thus, no blame. The only mildly negative voice heard in the story is that of the boy’s father, impotently pleading for some help from the school: “Maybe offer some sort of counseling for my children, ask me how my children are doing.” The hapless, helpless father, the very image of the castrated white man, completes the liberal lesson. The liberal lesson is that life consists of unlimited personal freedom, plus accidents (like the freedom of the dangerous criminal Charlie Samuels to wander the streets of Los Angeles, plus the “chance” encounter, as the Los Angeles Times called it, that led him to kidnap and kill Lily Burk). And when unpleasant things happen, well, you just gotta take it. Of course, no one notices that when you have unlimited personal freedom, lots more “accidents” occur.
Jul 1, 2009 11:24 pm US/Pacific Bruce B. writes:
What would a non-castrated man have said or done? My guess is he couldn’t do much, but I can think of a lot of things he could have said to show he has a pair. How about “they should fire the stupid sl_t!!”Laura W. writes:
I’m sure many people reading this story find it funny. I wonder how many jokes it has already inspired. As far as its serious implications, what’s the big deal? Fifth graders have already been exposed to semi-pornography on billboards, TV and the Internet. They can handle a little bit more. Sex is a natural activity. My fourth grade nephew came home one day and, in confusion, described explicit scenes of group sex to his mother. Apparently, the boy next to him at school watches hard-core porn with his Dad and frequently talks about it at school. My sister was enraged. When she complained to the school, the principal suggested a meeting with the father, as if they might all profit from discussing the finer points of their child rearing philosophies.Terry Morris writes:
LA replies:“Maybe offer some sort of counseling for my children, ask me how my children are doing,” he said. “I want somebody to ask me the kind of questions my kids are asking me.”Oh dear God! Me and the victim “Joe” need to have a long, long talk concerning his lack of masculinity and the effect it is having on his son.
Also, he said he said he didn’t want the teacher fired.A reader writes:
I don’t get your point. Should she be fired? Because she had sex? Would that have been sufficient? Because she recorded it? Would that have been sufficient? Because she mistakenly sent it to families in her school? Would that have been sufficient?LA replies:
To use a lost language that will sound odd and strange to you, once upon a time, not very long ago, a public school teacher would have been required to be a person of good moral character. A person who makes a videotape of herself having sexual intercourse would not have been considered a person of good moral character. (I realize this seems senseless to you.) That alone would have been cause for firing. And the allowing this tape to be sent to homes, even though it was an accident, is so egregious that that also would be cause for firing.Stephen T. writes:
I’m not Dr Freud and I don’t play him on TV, but I’m always suspicious of “accidents” of this particular nature—especially, frankly, when they happen to certain women. Even when the “accidents” seem like embarrassing and/or self-destructive events that no one would consciously inflict upon oneself. But that’s just me.LA replies:
I think that’s very insightful.Ken Hechtman writes:
If it’s any consolation, in two years these fifth graders will have seen stuff on the internet that’ll make them forget all about their teacher’s amateur video.Mark A. replies: You didn’t anticipate internet porn? When Times Square was full of porno theaters 40 years ago, you didn’t see red flags? If New York City, in 1969, allowed its Time Square, where women and children walk around daily, to become a sleazy porno district, what did you think the future would be like? Puppy dogs and ice cream?LA sniffs:
I was an English major.Mark A. replies:
Sorry for being too harsh on English majors.:)LA replies:
Well, I’ve heard that English majors have a rep for being softheaded. But I don’t think that that was always true. It may be a result of the post 1970s changes in the humanities toward postmodernism. Writing English papers is about getting at the meaning of a work of literature, what it’s saying, how it works. If you believe that truth and meaning exist and that an author is trying to convey something and you take his intention seriously, there’s nothing softheaded about that. Postmodernism undermined all that.QR writes:
There will be more and more teachers appearing in porn movies.LA replies:
It seems to me I’ve seen several articles/interviews at the Mail (which decries crime and uncontrolled immigration while celebrating debauchery) in which female celebrities boast of seeking young boy toys.Rocco DiPippo writes:
What the hell is wrong with people who tape themselves having sex? So you videotape yourself having sex and then later watch yourself having sex? What’s the point of that? Is it an exercise in massive self-absorption? Is it an exercise in the affirmation of one’s sexual prowess?July 31 Karen writes from England:
It’s also an abdication of parental authority. A father who felt responsible for his children’s development would demand that the school remove the teacher from office. That incident can’t be an accident. People review the files on DVDs before sending them out. It is very easy to do that and very difficult to see how the teacher put the wrong file on the DVD and left it there. The parents have devolved authority for their children to the school in a similar way to the manner in which British parents have devolved theirs to the State. Parents do not act as though they are responsible for their children’s educational and moral development. They simply don’t care.LA replies:
I wrote about the Amy Barnes murder trial on July 15: “Of course, the Mail makes nothing of the fact that Amy’s parents allowed a man to live with their 18- and 19-year-old daughter in their home.” And now we have the fuller picture. The parents were every bit as bad as they seemed. I hope that there is a transcript of this interview.Mark A. replies to LA:
I’m sure that is correct. When I was in school (1980s and early 1990s), we were merely taught to write “creatively.” To “express” ourselves. I’m sure that made it easier to teach … Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 30, 2009 03:05 PM | Send Email entry |