One Night in Bangkok
…makes the United States look stupid. At the UN-sponsored Asian and Pacific Populations Conference, the United States once again gave the rest of the world a reason to laugh at us for being a stubborn cowboy sitting backwards in a saddle. Instead of voting with every country, the U.S. had to raise a big fuss over phrases such as “reproductive health services” and “reproductive rights,” which our delegate presumably and (incorrectly) saw as “Hey!! The United Nations wants every boy and girl to have abortions and engage in premarital sex!! They both feel g-r-r-r-reat!!” The U.S. raised such a big stink, in fact, that the conference had to hold rare votes on two paragraphs in the plan of action–votes that saw the US lose, 31-1 and 32-1 (with two abstaining each time).
Attending countries included China, India, and Pakistan–countries that have been repeatedly berated for female genital mutilation, barring women from showing their faces in public, and crimes against humanity. Yet these countries are more progressive in their views on teaching sexuality and overpopulation than the U.S. Are we really so backward and uncosmopolitan that we have to stick to these Puritan views of a natural feeling? Are we truly trying to suppress every hormone in every one of our citizens under the age of 26 (the average age of first marriage)? Do we really believe that not telling kids about sex is going to stop them from having it? Apparently, we do. And as long as the Connecticut Cowboy is in the White House, that will be the plan of action. We cannot continue to run our nation based on values that failed to stop extramarital sex and immorality 50 years ago. Perhaps people back then were more willing to deny what occurred. Or perhaps they were better at covering it up.