Thursday, February 09, 2012

PSYCHOLOGY TODAY Mocks Rick Santorum's Sexual Ignorance



PSYCHOLOGY TODAY, the pop journal of psychology magazines, is running a critical feature this month on the sexual ignorance of Rick Santorum. PSYCHOLOGY TODAY noted that in a New Hampshire campaign appearance Santorum made the scientifically wrong statement claiming that, "God made man and woman, and men and women come together to have children, which keeps civilization going and provides the best environment for children to be raised". Well, PSYCHOLOGY TODAY noted that scientifically speaking such observations from Santorum don't really apply to the human species of animals.


Humans tend to have sex hundreds of times, if not thousands in most cases, before some episode of sexual intercourse actually results in a pregnancy or a live birth. Many animal mammal species on the other hand only tend to have sex during specific periods, so that the act often specifically results in pregnancy to further the species. Rick Santorum doesn't understand that humans are a far more intelligent species, who give sex a great deal of thought and complexity compared to other animal species. For some odd reason, Santorum thinks that human sex is the same as much animal mammal sexuality which often only takes place during specific ovulation periods.


Santorum is also a fierce opponent of the use of contraception by humans. He sees this as blocking the procreation process. However, it also serves many important components such as disease prevention. Even in monogamous couples, the potential to carry components that could lead to cervical cancer can still be very high. For example, an estimated 20 million Americans, or around 8% are infected with the HPV virus. And this figure can include many married or monogamous persons. Sexuality between an infected person and an uninfected person must include the use of condoms for example. Santorum's hard-line Roman Catholic view of condom use doesn't seem to be intelligent enough to comprehend the important medical reasons why condom use is often essential to many people having sex, including married persons. Rick Santorum's job after being voted of office by one of the biggest landslides for any incumbent senator ever was being a hospital administrator, although he has been condemned by critics for his inept handling of that job as well, where he really didn't accomplish much more than steer millions of dollars of federal grants to the hospital while fraud, rapes, a murder, and other crimes made the hospital the subject of sanctions from state and federal regulators.


Rick Santorum, like former candidate Michele Bachmann, both signed a pledge to support the ban of all pornography in the United States. However, that was a legally ignorant position as well, as most pornography is perfectly legal for sale, only a tiny portion of material dealing with very extreme material is considered to be legally obscene and can be prosecuted by law. Santorum also doesn't understand that humans are able to give sexuality a great deal of thought because of their higher intelligence than other animals, and pornography is only a reflection of that higher intelligence of the human species. Dogs don't have their own version of PLAYBOY for example. But, humans have that title and many more titles because the human can comprehend sexuality in much larger larger and intelligent terms than dogs can.


Santorum also doesn't seem to understand that the powerful nature of the sexual drive also makes human society and civilization possible. About the only men who aren't inspired enough to get a job or amass some wealth to attract a mate are complete skid row bums. Writers such as Brandais University Professor Herbert Marcuse wrote books such as EROS AND CIVILIZATION, where he lays out a brilliant theory at how the sex drive makes human society possible compared to other animal species who have all failed to build any civilizations, although some primitive groupings such as bee colonies, wolf packs or ape groups do exist. But, none of these compare to the civilization built by mankind, largely motivated by the sex drive of humans which has only inspired this development.


Unfortunately, Rick Santorum doesn't seem to give human sexuality much more regard than the sex life of cockroaches. Rick Santorum also well proves that he has little understanding of medical science, psychology, anthropology or numerous other scientific disciplines either. For some reason, Rick Santorum has found an audience of voters who only understand both religion. society and civilization in some of the most primitive of terms. It's almost like Rick Santorum is the tribal elder of some lost tribe where books or other learning tools don't yet exist in this civilization yet, because their society hasn't yet advanced enough. Santorum seems to have made himself a pretty easy mark for the pointed stick of this new PSYCHOLOGY TODAY piece by his hard work to elevate dirt ignorance to the status of some political ideology. But, then again what is to be expected from some politician who has publicly self-described himself as "crazy" at least once before. Rick Santorum just won three primary and caucus contests this past week. Many voters apparently agree with his message no matter how factually wrong it is, although most serious political pundits give him little hope of winning the Republican presidential nomination. His 15 minutes of fame since his very narrow 34 vote win in Iowa are extended for at least another week.


For some odd reason, all of Rick Santorum's goofy pronouncements haven't yet caused political suicide. And that's very perplexing for a civilization where the availability of information is far wider than ever before, thanks largely to the growth of computers as an information exchange medium. Rick Santorum's brand of politics has apparently tapped into the greatest pool of sheer ignorance since the dark ages. But, it's difficult to believe that most voters would be willing to elect someone president who lacks basic skills such as good judgment.