Tax Supported Symbolic Gesture

There is no way around the FACT that the information we get from the electronic mass media 24/7 sparks lively PRIVATE discussions.

When in the loving bosom of family and friends, discussions are more direct and honest and the rules for censorship are reduced to the simple one of no physical violence being allowed. Hopefully, I’m not running with an unusual and dangerous crowd simply because violence containment is the only group censorship we apply face to face and mano et mano.

After attending a very high-faluting, charity and social consciousness fund raiser someone, on their cell phone, recorded a video clip of George Bush, Sr. slapping the butt of a famous actress in the parking lot after he had what seemed to be a delightful one-on-one conversation with her since they were both saying goodbye to each other with a smile and a laugh. That clip sparked an unexpected debate!

One woman, in between a bite of chips and salsa, noted that had the actress delivered a classic, non-damaging, feminine slap to Bush, Sr. in a way that other politically correct times and other European cultures would have supported as a woman’s right to defend her dignity in such a manner (even old Hollywood movies show the occasional slap from a lady who wanted it known to the man that he was out of line) that the actress would have been thrown to the ground by at least a dozen of Bush Sr.’s security personnel which includes the tax-payer-kept Secret Service that ex-Presidents all enjoy as a privilege.

So basically, since politics is reduced to two major groups through the support of data collected by “social scientists” – we got down to collecting our own group data.

None of the men want an ex-President to have a PROTECTED right to slap an unescorted woman’s butt. None of the women wanted their butts slapped by Bush Sr., either. The ladies felt there were other more appropriate SYMBOLIC gestures a man could utilize to show respect towards a woman’s grace and charm. Both men and women mentioned their parent’s/grandparent’s generations charming kiss of the hand IF the woman chose to even extend her hand to a man in greeting….mostly it was hands-off.

Should we not always reach for a universally charming and universally understood kiss of an extended feminine hand to a man as the POLITICALLY CORRECT gesture when attempting to amalgamate so many diverse cultures at influential and important world charity functions?

However, we DID acknowledge that there were probably large groups of men in the USA among the 45 year old and younger “generation gap” crowd who might actually keep a video tape and use it as bragging rights to their buddies – “hey look, my lady got a butt slap from the President…” and there are probably also large groups of women who like having their butt slapped as a gesture of approval from Secret-Security-guarded rich and powerful men.

I must admit to this little bit of sharing on Truthbook.com of personal “beliefs” and SYMBOLIC faith based actions, is a bit of a mischief because I have supported the possible creation of yet another diametrically-opposed-to-each-other classification.

Still, SYMOLIC gestures do run deeper than appearances suggest when it comes to religious, political, and social “ceremony”, don’t they? We have a butt-slapping vs. hand-kissing schism developing in the country and who’s SYMBOLIC gestures are going to continue to enjoy tax-payer protection into the future and why?

Should I start a silly poll? Something like – “do you prefer a national custom of butt-slapping or hand-kissing?

Any video tape out there of Rudy Giuliani slapping butts? He is Italian after all…or did he rise above his stereotypical Italian roots (where butt-PINCHING is still a national past time in Italy) to become MORE than symbolic…? Can we all rise to universal occasions because of our “Christian” beliefs? Does “Christianity” still move us to progress?

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