Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Arkansas Culture and Characters UCA combines philosophy/pornography
Posted by Max Brantley on Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 5:07 PM
Interesting article on Huffington Post about an honors college class taught by Jacob Held, an assistant professor of philosophy and religion at UCA, on philosophy and pornography. Don't snigger. It's serious stuff about civil rights, sexual violence, exploitation, women in media and more.
Tom: So you actually taught a college course on porn? Could you find a classroom big enough?Jake: Yes. And yes. Honestly, going through the process of offering the course reinforced why this topic needs to be explored more openly. For example, I had to interview all potential students and get them to sign a waiver before they could be admitted to the course. I had several meetings about content, books, and so forth. And the interesting thing is, it was all because of the sexual nature of the content. I've taught on torture and war, but no question was ever raised about student exposure to violence. So the care with which I had to approach this course illustrates the oddity of our discordant treatments of violence and sex, where the former is allowed in the curriculum to an almost unlimited degree, but the latter is nearly taboo, even though both are arguably obscene in the strict sense of the word.
Good a place as any to start tonight's open line.
Speaking of...
-
Scott Roussel resigns as UCA trustee
May 6, 2012The Log Cabin Democrat in Conway has the scoop on an action that had been anticipated at Friday's University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees meeting. /more/
-
UPDATE: UCA Board raises tuition, president's pay
May 4, 2012The University of Central Arkansas Board of Trustees meets at 2 p.m. today. Items of interest on the agenda include a proposed 2.08 percent tuition/fee increase that would, according to the UCA chart, put the school at $7,332 for a 15-hour semester, about $11 less than UALR and $221 less than UAF. /more/
-
Resolved: Scott Roussel should resign from UCA Board
April 27, 2012The faculty Senate of the University of Central Arkansas yesterday adopted a resolution urging Scott Roussel to resign from the UCA Board of Trustees. /more/
-
UCA student show opens today
March 7, 2012Greg Thompson was juror. /more/
- More »
Comments (55)
Showing 1-50 of 55
Max,
How can you anything about the L.R. Chamber with the amount of corporate welfare you and the Times get from the State of Arkansas. I think your reader would be surprised.
like
dislike
During the Senate Confirmation hearings today a senator inquired a number of times if Kagan had written a certain memo. She would not give a yes or no answer but the instead her response was: " the one written in my handwriting."
What the hell? Did someone force her to write it or maybe she didn't write it but someone used her handwriting.
Why didn't she simply answer with a yes or now?
Justice Elena Kagan, sounds really nice. Don't you think, what the hell?
One more woman to help balance the scales on the Supremes. And I don't think there is too much to fear re Kagan turning out to be a conservative activist judge like Roberts, Scalomas and Alito, do you?
Uh, Get Real, could you maybe fix your post where it makes at least a little bit of sense? Hard to respond when nobody has a clue ("How can you anything ... ?) what you are trying to say.
what the heck, hell, Max linked about 26 reasons a few days ago why Kagan or any other Demo judicial nominee should be very cautious about answering questions from wingnut Senators. However any halfwit reader on here can tell
that "hell" is not interested in facts.
You can read them again yourself and see how Allies-FOX-Murdock-National Review makes pigs ears from silk purses.
http://mediamatters.org/research/201006270…
.
>>amount of corporate welfare you and the Times get from the State of Arkansas.<<
Get Real is trying to draw a line about the amount of tourism ads that appear on the Ark Times online pages. It's a drop in the bucket to what the State spends to support tourism or, the city of Little Rock, in TV, Newspapers and magazines.
If Get Real can find another ARKANSAS online media with 10,000 unique visitors a day then maybe she can convince the state to switch ad media. Vacationers are staying closer to home these day during the Cheney "deficits don't matter" recession.
.
Back to the thread...
Can I download the text book for the course? I just want to audit the class.
Berry and Ross voted no on the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. I wounder what their problem was with the Bill or did they vote no because they Dem's had the votes and to help them keep their seats (Causey's election in Berry's case)? Snyder was yea, and one can infer how Boozman voted.
So, isn't anyone interested in picking up Max's lead about the UCA philosophy/religion prof teaching a course on philosophy and porn? I know I'd like to audit that course. I mean, they'll probably show "movies", right? Can we bring beer and nachos? Do they dim the lights?
I knew I was making a mistake when I quit the U of A in January, 1976. Now here's a course I could get into...probably even major in! Humans have been having sex for 100 million years or 6000 years depending if you believe scientists or Mike Huckabee. Even if it's only been 6000 years since the first caveman scored....shouldn't we be over our embarrassment about human sexuality by now?
It's the same as dog sex only humans wear lipstick and can put on a Batman cape and do a little role playing if they're of a mind to. We're just the smartest animals on the planet and in so many ways....that's not saying much.
The way I look at things anything unexamined can be dangerous. In the course of a whole lifetime very few humans will make it from the cradle to the grave without encountering some kind of pornography. Porn in one form or another has been with us since the first caveman used plant juice to draw pictures on the walls of his caves. Sex fueled the invention of the first printing press, night time telephone calls, CB radios, VCRs, and the Internet!
Today's kids can find porn easier than they can find their own bellybutton, so it's pretty important to give them the same advice Ann Landers gave my generation.
I remember reading Ann Landers when I was a teenager and some parent wrote in and said they found a Playboy under their son's mattress and wanted to know what to do about....they were horrified and worried their son was a sex addict or something. Old Ann's advice was to put the Playboy back where they found it and then set the boy down for a little talk.
She said in her view, the only thing dangerous about a Playboy and a teenaged boy was if the boy got in his head that all women look like Playboy centerfolds when they took their clothes off. Zoom ahead 40 years and the little talk has become more complicated and embarrassing.
Like Judith Krantz novels, some porn is worse than other porn. Hot nasty porn never hurt anyone as long as they understand it's just a movie with paid performers who were in agreement with everything that was performed in front of the camera. Fantasy is fun, but point out to your kid that most women in the makeup department at Dillards are not "dying for it" every minute of every hour of the day and pizza delivery guys are rarely handsome, hung like a horse and willing to trade pizza for sex....it's a movie like Harry Potter is a movie and nothing more.
Then there is porn that is totally degrading to women and sends out every wrong message that can be sent. Thanks to the Internet Tubes girls can watch porn clips of testicle torture...something 99.9% of all men DO NOT WANT. So yay for equality on the net, but boo-ray on degrading, painful, dangerous sex. I'm sure this topic is a part of Mr. Held's class and good.
You know....I was going to write 11 more chapters here, but I think I'll stop and send Jacob Held an email offering to come speak to his class. I'm sure they'd love to hear what I have to say about sex!
Plus that will leave Max more space here to list all the corporate welfare given by the state to the Arkansas Times. And he can explain to what the hell how Kagan answered the Senator's question even if she didn't use the words yes or no.
I'll be back later to explain how to avoid anal fissures and prolapsed uterus syndrome....stay tuned!
Well, I'm funded by the Chamber of Commerce from their taxpayer subsidies to post here, as part of their business development work.
One person's corporate welfare is another person's paycheck. If you're telling me I don't have a right to make a living off of your taxes, then stop paying them and see what happens, sucker.
Only losers pay the government instead of the government paying them. I think you need to "get real."
How many students do you suppose took the course because of the philosophy (which, unfortunately, is pretty well considered a dying discipline in today's world)?
Sound Policy,
The problem with Kagan is not that she is a woman but the wrong woman. Having nothing against Jews but she will be the third one on the court along with six Catholics.
Where are the Protestants, Agnostics, Buddhists, so on and so forth?
Why not a free-will Baptist or Mormon or Scientologist?
I thought Obama was about change? Where is the change?
UCA combines philosophy and pornography? Now there’s a great university for ya, one that has balls (so to speak), one that’s broadening horizons like true universities should! I knew ole Allen Meadors would get that place back on track! Go Allen! Go Bears!
Hey, eLwood ole pal, university porn and sex aside for a sec, life is good, eh? DOW down 368 past two days, but who gives a shiz? Last I heard today gold was $1239.80. My 2001 buys averaging $267 now up 364%. How ‘bout yew, bud? The metals wizards say it'll hit $5,000 before we die. Can't imagine it, but . . .
BTW, silver was $18.46 at last report, so I’m up 67%. (Shoulda bought years ago at $4, but howza guy to know?) Anyway, have ya got get in yet? Better do it: DOn't waIT! Word is it’ll hit $250. Didn’t win Big Ernie’s lotto today, but I’m nevertheless off to Cantina Laredo to celebrate. Yippi-yi-yo!
PS: Others here oughta consider jumping on the metals bandwagon, including copper. Metals will still be holding their own come the rapture. Agree, eL?
DBI,
I also told my sons that porn could damage a man's self-esteem because if he thought what he sees in porn films is what he is going to find on his own personal body one day, this is right unlikely. It's just as harmful to expect all men to be hung like a horse as it is to expect all women to look like Jenna James.
End of sermon. They didnt appreciate it. Ran off ASAP. But it's true.
I also bought condoms for my younger son after I found a blanket in the trunk of the car with enough clothes in there to cover up five or six people. Or not. Just in case of not, i thought I'd make the purchase. I thought he was going to die of embarrassment, but i thought it was the right thing to do, and who cares if you embarrass your teenager? Isn't that a parent's role in life? i knew my older son would be horrified if i did that for him so I didnt. He didnt tend to party as much as son #2 did.
yeah, sure, max has the Times on corporate welfare. If you dont like the way he does things around here, might i suggest you leave?
Durango, as we both know Glen Beck and the Tea Party are the best thing to happen to precious metals investors. It's a fear based market. But, hey, I knew it was coming when old Dick Cheney started that MidEast, never ending war..never fails..check history, plus the astrology of '03 and '04 was in total harmony with shifting of values and major astrologers were predicting devaluing of U.S. currency. I advised a few wealthy astro clients back then to buy gold. Only one listened and acted. The other 4 are still singing the "I should have" blues. The Los Angeles fellow who listened just had to sell off some of his and buy a new Jag. Well, you can't drive gold.
When old Dick Cheney was revealed to have bought $10 Million in gold in '04 (was revealed in '05) I knew my prognostications were right on. Dick never created a crisis that wasn't profitable for him and a few close friends. Now if he can just get history revised to cover it all up then the old boy will be rich and well-regarded.
>>How much do you think the state give Max?<<
The state don't 'gave' Max nuttin. In case you're actually as ignorant as you write it will be of little interest to you to know that the state of Arkansas places media coverage via an agency. Allan, the publisher, and Max own the website and maintain it. If you've never done any such thing then you have no idea of what costs are involved getting a message out. I can assure you why there was no rush for WEHCO or Stephens Media go with online pubs; the ad revenue is much less. That's why WECHO-Stephens merger is charging for online access. Think they would let the State promote tourism for free in any of their online pubs or print pubs?
If you're referring to Max's wife who is a Circuit Court judge then she more than earns her pay. Judges' services are not something the free market can order up.
Again, if you dislike this website then don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
Elwood,
OTR?
The Answer is $28,075.29 as of today. We will get a cost per hit on Thursday.
How can you be an expert on every issue on this blog?
I suspect that eLwood and several others could qualify for MENSA membership if they wanted to do so. I dont even think I could pass fourth grade math any more, so I'll leave it to them. we do have some very intelligent and very witty people on the blog.
I completely agree with eLwood as to not letting the screen door hit you on the ass on your way out, if you don't like it here. we dont want cooties on our screen door, you know.
>>The problem with Kagan is not that she is a woman but the wrong woman. <<
And you haven't provided ONE reason why. I gave you 26 reasons why she should not respond to Republicons typical bait and switch questions.
Have y'all seen this video of the oil spill?
There's nothing else to say except...heartbreaking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxDf-KkMCKQ
>>How can you be an expert on every issue on this blog?<<
I have mentioned nothing in response to your comments that could not have been learned on these pages had you been paying attention. AT has reported on State of Arkansas's media contracts a few times. If you don't have a reasonable elementary idea of how bidness works then why bother to make up issues you know nothing about? Bidness works off of deals (contracts, agreements). There is an offer-acceptance thing implicit in every transaction you make. Nothing but average intelligence involved in that.
There are many blog threads I don't comment upon. L.R. school issues are one, unless Old Roy is off the shelf. Wink to Jake.
I was raised with enough religious bullshit and fear thrown at me that the sooner I learned to sort it out the better I survived.
I'm curious why the whistle blower DOJ lawyer who revealed that Eric Holder dropped the New Black Panther's voter intimidation case in Philadelphia due to racial reasons has been virtually ignored on this blog? Is there some blank check being given to blacks who intimidate voters? Can you imagine if these black Panthers had been KKK members intimidating black voters at a precinct the furor that would have been raised if their prosecution had been dropped? I guess we have two standards of justice in the Obama administration.
eLwood,
I did give you a reason. Why pack the Supreme Court with such a narrow religious outlook. Catholics and Jews only represent a minority of the U.S. adult population. Non-Catholic Christians make up over 50% while Catholics are at 25% and Jews are at 1.2%.
Think what it would be like if six of the member were Muslim? I'd bet they would think of a way to kick those damn women off unless they exchanged their robes for burkas.
About 25-30 years ago, a friend of mine was called to the Dean's office to explain why he thought a graphic film of childbirth was appropriate for a graduate class.
So wth your problem with Kagan is that she is a New York JOOOOOO?
sheesh.....
and Harvey how did I know that you would be the one to bring up the Hot Air/Freeper BS outrage of the day?
Wink back at you eLwood. One of these daze, I'm gonna head up to the Northwest part of Arkieland for good (or otherwise). Ol' Roy hopefully will be a faded memory dimmed by the mists of time when that happens.
I encourage all AT Bloggers to bring some of their best jokes to the blog tomorrow to help celebrate International Joke Day on tomorrow's evening line. Maybe Max will offer one up himself for the occasion. Anyway, here's another one from my scrapbook:
A newlywed couple moves into their new house. One day the husband comes home from work and his wife says, "Honey, you know, in the upstairs bathroom one of the pipes is leaking, could you fix it?" The husband says, "What do I look like, Mr. Plumber?"
A few days go by, and he comes home from work and his wife says, "Honey, the car won't start. I think it needs a new battery. Could you change it for me?" He says: "What do I look like, Mr. Goodwrench?"
Another few days go by, and it's raining pretty hard. The wife finds a leak in the roof. She says, "Honey, there's a leak on the roof! Can you please fix it?" He says, "What do I look like, Bob Vila?"
The next day the husband comes home, and the roof is fixed. So is the plumbing. So is the car. He asks his wife what happened. "Oh, I had a handyman come in and fix them," she says.
"Great! How much is that going to cost me?" he snarls. Wife says: "Nothing. He said he'd do it for free if I either baked him a cake or slept with him." "Uh, well, what kind of cake did you make?" asks the husband. "What do I look like," she says, "Betty Crocker?"
NWA Blueberries are ripe and ready have been for a couple of weeks.
Our favorite place is Clabber Creek Farms on Hiway 16 W. about 10 mi W of
Fayetteville.
http://www.pickyourown.org/AR.htm#listings
Just got back from a quick trip to Mountain View. Beautiful day, beautiful views. A good time all around. I recommend the Fat Boy pizza from Jimmy's, no insult intended to the avoirdupois-enhanced among us.
Gee, hell, you left out the possiblity that an atheist or at least an agnostic might serve well on the court.
Must be the heat factor here in Macao (123 degrees) that reminds me of horribly racist humor and the Chinese newlyweds -- both virgins -- in their honeymoon suite.
She shyly slips under the covers in her negligee. Equally shy but wanting to appear experienced, he slips in beside her, takes her in his arms, whispers, "I rove you. I give you anyting you rike. Anyting you want. Just terr me. I give you. What you rike?"
"Werr," she barely whispers, nuzzling his shoulder, ". . . They say numbah sixty-nine? Something about . . . numbah sixty-nine?"
Eager to accommodate his precious bride, he's puzzled. "You want chicken wiff broccori?"
I detest adolescent jokes like that and refuse to stoop their level, though god knows if anywhere needs to learn the ins and outs of pornography it's Conway.
Sent to me by my sainted mother, up Mt. View way…
Subject: A Happy Marriage
A couple was celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on the beaches in
Montego Bay, Jamaica. Their domestic tranquility had long been the
talk of the town. People would say, "What a peaceful and loving couple"
The local newspaper reporter was inquiring as to the secret of their long
and happy marriage.
The Husband replied: "Well, it dates back to our honeymoon in America".
"We visited the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and took a trip down to the bottom
of the canyon, by horse. We hadn't gone too far when my wife's horse
stumbled and she almost fell off. My wife looked down at the horse and
quietly said, "That's once."
"We proceeded a little further and her horse stumbled again. My wife quietly
spoke again; "That's twice." We hadn't gone another half-mile when the
horse stumbled for the third time. My wife quietly removed a revolver from
her purse and shot the horse dead.
I SHOUTED at her, "What's wrong with you, Woman! Why did you shoot the poor
animal like that, are you *+%$**£" crazy!?" She looked at ME, and quietly
said, "That's once."
And from that moment..... “We have lived happily ever after."
“God created sex. Priests created marriage.” Voltaire
Sent to my dear sweet sainted wife by her sainted sister in Vegas:
A Woman’s Poem
He didn't like the casserole
And he didn't like my cake,
He said my biscuits were too hard
Not like his mother used to make.
I didn't perk the coffee right
He didn't like the stew,
I didn't mend his socks
The way his mother used to do.
I pondered for an answer
I was looking for a clue.
Then I turned around and
smacked the shit out of him
Like his mother used to do.
Bank of Ozarks and several others in Arkansas are making quite a comeback.
"Bank of the Ozarks, also of Little Rock, had a 2.27 percent ROA"
The U.S. average for quarterly Return On Assets was .49
http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.as…
Bet your flight has never been recalled due to this -
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38027232/ns/tr…
'I felt like they were crawling all over me,' passenger says
"...Then I turned around and
smacked the shit out of him
Like his mother used to do."
LOL...well...some just ask for it.
I'm not surprised that enlightened thinking should require so much unnecessary crap, it is Arkansas, after all. I remember when a 'radical' art teacher wanted to teach an art class that involved nude models (90s). Imagine that, artists drawing/painting the human body...crazy art folks. You would have thought that the professor was wanting students to engage in a public devil-worshiping orgy.
UCA's Honor College is 'almost' too evolved for our state (of course, many of our colleges/professors are far beyond...the 'the earth is 5,000 old' gang--thank my goddess! Norb Schedler, the founder, also taught a world's religion class that required...the patience of Job/brilliance of Einstein and the political maneuverings of Bill Clinton. (I'm not sure whether his recently diagnosed Parkinson's is keeping him from teaching that class.) I'll NEVER forget him explaining how after teaching all over the world he retired and came to Arkansas as...some go to third-world countries to teach. (And, NO, it wasn't meant as an insult.) It was the first time I realized that...it wasn't me, ha!
I think a Porno Course 101 is a good thing. Kids need to know their away around porn internet sites, which magazines are the best, and what they specialize in, for example, Leg Action is more for high heels/stockings etc., good info for the boys.
Guys this is supposed to be a blog about PORN, not gold or Kagen. Stop trying to hi-jack a good PORN blog with endless political dribble.
DISGUSTING!
Gotta love these hipster professors who talk about nothing but beer and things like 'free speech' but in reality have no clue what 'free speech' actually means. If you bow down, agree with everything they say, praise them... then they agree with your right to 'free speech'. But challenge, disagree with, or simply have a differing opinion and they will immediately do everything in their power to suspend YOUR right to free speech.
This is a mockery and a farce.
COWARDS!
Parents... please protect your children from seeing these disturbing/disgusting images. The average child sees porn for the first time at around 10 years old. And they are usually seeing exploitative/gruesome sex acts. Parents need to discuss love and relationships with their children. They need to point out that the women (and sometimes men) in these movies are degraded, exploited, and hurt.
Pornography is not harmless! It is not simply 'fun' make believe that people can watch and them separate from themselves. These types of porn harden people and eventually make them incapable of forming meaningful relationships.
Watching things and supporting businesses that exploit women for profit makes you a creep... however you want to look at it 'philosophers'.
Really? Really? .......... Really?
My comments are the only ones that received a dislike?
That is HILARIOUS!
I think you call what I've said here hitting the nail on the head!
I guess I was 'supposed' to say the problem today is that college students need to be watching even MORE porn than they already are!
But for the record I believe:
Porn- degrading to women, disgusting
Cheerleading- degrading to women, disgusting
Beauty pageants- degrading to women, disgusting
Violence- disturbing, disgusting, frightening...
Breast Implants- degrading to women, disgusting, unnatural
Men expecting anal sex from women on a first date, when these women barely know or trust them, because they are seeing this 'normalized' in porn- degrading and potentially painful for women, disgusting
High Heels- uncomfortable and contort women's feet into unnatural positions but for some reason are a 'turn on' for some men. I guess anything that makes a woman feel uncomfortable and unstable is a 'turn on' for a lot of men these days...
And please don't tell me that violence is accepted in our culture but that porn/sex isn't. The influence of porn is all around us. The girl sitting next to me in class with her teased, hair sprayed porn hair and push-up bra is all the reminder I need. Thank you!
Who is the moron that disliked my FREE SPEECH post?
Must be the 'porn guy'!
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