Your Reality is Shopped.

Today I'm going to be culturally insensitive and controversial. Okay, maybe I'm always controversial, but probably not the other.

The Hasadic newspaper Der Tzitung, as per their policy of never showing women in print, photoshopped out all the women in the now historic photo of the US national security team watching as bin Laden was assassinated. This means they removed US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Director of Counterterrorism Audrey Tomason. You can see the comparison here.

The reasons behind women not being in print is that images of women may insight men to lustful thoughts. Or, I dunno, make them explode into billions of points of light after the deep core fire of lust ignites within them. Hmm, that might just be how new universes are made.  Making new universes would be deeply irresponsible, of course, so we can't have that happen.

Except . . . except . . . wait, none of that is really true.

Okay, so when I was like 11 or so, my step-grandparents went to England and came back with some newspapers where big eyed girls were showing their breasts.  When I saw this, I was shocked and perhaps scandalized. I can see how someone who saw das nakkid boobies as a sexy thing might steal the newspaper and take it home for "alone time." And so yes, if you value censorship over potential masturbation, I can see why pictures of sexy girls in your newspapers might be a bad idea.

However . . .

Both Clinton and Tomason were fully clothed. Both women were in very serious, candid shots, expression only emotion of a grave nature. Both women looked professional and dignified and neither displayed what anyone could misconstrue as something even close to being provocative.

Because, and I guess this is the part that people have such a hard time wrapping their brains around, women can be in a room and in a photo where they are simply people like everyone else.

Wait wait wait? THE HELL I SAY?

Yup. That's right. Women can be in a room with others and the fact that they have breasts and vaginae can never even become an issue. Ever. It honestly is possible.  The men in the room can look at these women and just consider their statements and let them do their jobs and never once to they think anything lustful.

This is because of this crazy thing where people can treat each other just as people and behave like professionals.  The fact that both sexes are in a room together does not mean they have to rip off each others' clothes and behave as genderdy-potential-sinful-lusted-up-bangbangs!

And here is the irony.  Because of the intellectual equality that exists when people treat each other with this type of respect, everyone realizes that lustful feelings and thoughts would be inappropriate. So they just don't have them. Which means no sin, which is what the Hasadic dearies wanted in the first place. Funny how that works.

Though, I guess if we peeled back the blood and bones and looked into the marrow of this issue, we would find that equality is exactly what most people really fear. The idea that men and women can work together in a professional manner and achieve great things is still frightening to many.  So they want to hide it away, pretend like it isn't possible.  They continue to promote the idea that men and women are alien from each other, with no common ground save for moments of most likely sinful involvements.

I would honestly be more angry about this, but my soul is contented knowing at the end of the day, the people who altered this picture, the ones who made the decisions to make this alteration necessary, know they had to change reality to suit their needs. They know that every time they have to alter something like this,   everything they believe in is a lie.  A lie they have to work harder and harder every day to maintain.