模倣子 Circumcision and The Burden of Empire

Yeah, and I think this whole bit about "back in [filthy] 'biblical times'" it made sense is rubbish as well. Obviously humans, men and women, survived without their genitals rotting for hundreds of thousands of years descended from animals that also had foreskins/clitoral hoods.

But even El-Shaddai's exhortation to Abraham to circumcise his tribe was a show of loyalty to him, NOT to prevent disease (germ theory was thousands of years away). Clearly not an explicit motivation, possibly an example of social Darwinism/selection, if you're into that, something prophetic, whatever. But one thing that ancient people's WOULD have epistemological access to is that circumcision decreases men's interest in women and vice versa so their energy may be refocused towards the economic and military interests of the state, thereby giving said society a competitive edge over neighboring non-cutters. And that was exactly where El-Shaddai/Yahweh/G-d was coming from in the first place, i.e., "Do this as a sign of your devotion and I shall give you dominion over the nations".

So, "hygiene" or "you won't get AIDS" is a cover story for the masturbation rationale -- that's clear from the historical record, but the masturbation lie may be a cover story for the above. I'm intrigued by the example of the British Empire, i.e., they implemented circumcision at the height of their power, during the reign of Queen Victoria. Height or peak of power means it's downhill from there (just like "peak oil" is when you produce the most and you never produce that much again), in other words, that's the time when they start taking desperate measures to slow the inexorable downhill slide off the bad side of the normal curve (like with "fracking" with oil), like trying to eke out a little bit more from soldiers and workers.

Since America is for all intents and purposes a "borrowing culture" of Britain in an anthropological sense, we may have just aped the Brits for their same surface reasons without the underlying one. Borrowing cultures tend to do things that don't make sense in their new environment, e.g., wearing 3-piece suits in the Arizona desert, etc.

However, one thing that worries me is that America may have reached (or passed) the height of her power (some would say that happened in the late 1960s), and so giving up circumcision may be hard to do. The bullshit machine may just keep churning it out in spite of the facts and reasoned arguments until we actually face the underlying reality and maybe even (gasp!) consider relinquishing The Burden of Empire.