Below is an article by Roger Olson from the WacoTribune, the local paper here in Waco. Dr. Olson is a professor of Theology at Truett Seminary where I am currently working on my MDiv. When I read it I was asked what I thought and I said “it is a satire, while I was reading it I was reminded of ‘A Modest Proposal‘ by Johanathn Swift.”
At Truett this article caused a lot of discussion to take place among the student body. In the office I work in at school the big question was did he actually write it? For me there was no question about that, yes he wrote it his name is on the article. People could just not believe that he would write something like this. What they were forgetting was the literary device known as satire. I believe he did a great job in making his points, and did it in a way which grabs your attention. Well enough of what I have to say, read the article for yourself.
Dear, dear — it’s only a taboo
Monday, April 21, 2008
Dear Abby:
I am only writing this because of your public influence through your syndicated advice column in this and many other newspapers.
I write to represent a little-known but growing special interest group called “Incest Liberation Lobby” (ILL).
We are an organization of people interested or actively involved in what society labels “incestuous relationships.”
Our aim is to change social norms so that we can be free to practice our lifestyle openly and without persecution.
You recently published a letter [March 26] from a woman whose little girl watched a neighbor having sex with her son through a window looking into their bedroom next door. In your response, you held us up to public ridicule, embarrassment and even possible criminal sanctions.
Perhaps you do not realize it, but you engaged in simply reinforcing what is no more than a conventional belief that sex between close relatives is forbidden.
That’s nothing more than a socio-religious taboo that, like so many other sexual practices, needs to be changed.
Why condemn the neighbor’s and her son’s lifestyle? Both are willing adults and, presumably, they are engaging in it without coercion and with full mutuality.
Why should any sexual practice engaged in by willing adults with full mutuality be considered wrong? Most have been reversed already; some are in the process of being reversed with your help!
In former columns you have taken the side of people who want to be liberated from sexual taboos such as same-gender sex. Well, isn’t it a little inconsistent to appeal to a social taboo rooted in superstition under the guise of religion now?
What harm is done by incest as long as no children are involved and none are produced?
With today’s technological advances, there is no real risk of children being born as a result of incest. In the particular case you published, the mother was too old to have children. So why is sex with her son bad if both partners are willing and doing it with informed consent and without impairment of mind?
We in the ILL are sick and tired of incest being condemned by society. Virtually every other taboo has been exposed as just that and more. They are generally recognized by educated, intelligent people such as yourself as discriminatory and oppressive.
Please retract your hurtful comments about incest and respect our right to live out our sexual preference without social stigma.
If homosexuals have the right to engage in sexual relations and even be married, why shouldn’t close relatives have the same rights?
The only answers have to be “custom” or “religion.” Neither one should rule people’s lives in a liberated society such as ours.
We of the ILL will look forward to a future column in which you will become consistent and publicly take up our cause.
So what do you think?
