The Triumph of Lust
CHRIST & NEIGHBOR
Is it possible to complain about the media’s hard sell of sex, sex, and more sex, without being accused of being a puritanical, Jansenistic, Manichean prude? Probably not. Nor is it likely that one can escape being tagged a representative of the far Right.
Nevertheless, it may be time to call for a new revolution with the slogan “Moralistic mossbacks of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but a reputation for sophistication.”
Recently I watched another primetime soap opera, this one about a priest who for an hour and 45 minutes put up a plucky fight against lust, but then made a graceful surrender, gave up his priesthood, and proved once more that the love of a good, and preferably beautiful, woman is more powerful and in every way more laudable than the love of God.
Then I watched our local Boston public TV station, which is supposed to cater to higher values, showing a teenage girl put up a rather unimpressive fight against lust and then make a clumsy surrender, proving once again that sex, no matter how sordid, must triumph in the end.
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