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Hollywood: Mainstreaming Incest

Back in 1986, Justice Antonin Scalia was excoriated as a hate-monger and extreme doomsayer when he wrote the dissent on Lawrence et al. v. Texas, a case which basically overturned sodomy laws on the grounds sexual behavior could not be legislated by appealing to traditional morality. Scalia wrote:

State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers’ validation of laws based on moral choices. Every single one of these laws is called into question by today’s decision; the Court makes no effort to cabin the scope of its decision to exclude them from its holding[…]The impossibility of distinguishing homosexuality from other traditional ‘morals’ offenses is precisely why Bowers rejected the rational-basis challenge. ‘The law,’ it said, ‘is constantly based on notions of morality, and if all laws representing essentially moral choices are to be invalidated under the Due Process Clause, the courts will be very busy indeed[.] […] What a massive disruption of the current social order, therefore, the overruling of Bowers entails.

The justice was a prophet.

As it has turned out, incest is now being viewed approvingly by some in Hollywood. Director Nick Cassavetes is producing the film Yellow, the plot line of which depicts a brother and sister falling in love with one another. Cassavetes has given new meaning to the term “brotherly love” by declaring incest OK:

I have no experience with incest. … We had heard a few stories where brothers and sisters were completely, absolutely in love with one another. You know what? This whole movie is about judgment, and lack of it, and doing what you want. Who gives a sh-t if people judge you? I’m not saying this is an absolute but in a way, if you’re not having kids – who gives a damn? Love who you want. Isn’t that what we say? Gay marriage – love who you want? If it’s your brother or sister it’s super-weird, but if you look at it, you’re not hurting anybody except every single person who freaks out because you’re in love with one another.

Right.

If Justice Scalia could look into the future, maybe we also can imagine the future, taking a look at what the gradual acceptance of incest and other currently forbidden sexual practices might look like.

Cassavetes’ film will be hailed as “groundbreaking.” It will be followed up by another film featuring the tragic circumstances of two people who didn’t know they were brother and sister, similar to the situation Oedipus Rex faced when he unknowingly married his mother and had children by her. The film will show graphically explicit sex scenes between brother and sister, in order that the audiences get used to seeing incestuous relationships as sensually thrilling. The brother and sister will later find out their relationship is forbidden but decide to continue anyway, as they are so in love with one another. The film will end with them staying together for the sake of the children. It will win the coveted Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival.

Read more from this story HERE.

Scalia’s comments this weekend open the door to more gun control legislation

Photo credit: US Mission Geneva

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Sunday the Second Amendment leaves open the possibility of gun-control legislation, adding to what has become a slow-boiling debate on the issue since the Colorado movie theater massacre earlier this month.

Scalia, one of the high court’s most conservative justices, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the majority opinion in the landmark 2008 case of District of Columbia v. Heller stated the extent of gun ownership “will have to be decided in future cases.”

“We’ll see,” he said.

Scalia’s comments follow the July 20 massacre at the Aurora, Colo., movie theater in which the alleged gunman, with the help of a semi-automatic weapon and an ammunition clip that could hold as many as 100 rounds, killed 12 and wounded 59 others.

His comments also follow those of lawmakers who have called for tougher gun-related laws in the wake of the shootings – most recently New Jersey Sen. Frank Lautenberg and New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, Democrats who said Sunday they will introduce legislation this week to “make it harder for criminals to anonymously stockpile ammunition through the Internet, as was done before the recent tragic shooting in Aurora, Colorado.”

Read more from this story HERE.

Publisher’s Note:  Scalia also noted in his interview on Fox News Sunday that an original construction of the Constitution opens the door to gun limitations as well, noting that the Second Amendment allows us only to “keep and bear arms.”  The word “bear” means that the Founders intended some restrictions, at the minimum allowing prohibition of weapons that cannot be carried.