How Game of Thrones Made Me Appreciate Family Values

Graphic violence. Excessive sexuality. Drunken brawling. Betrayal. Deception. Incest. Most people know Game of Thrones for these unsavory plot elements. You wouldn’t think a show like this would teach you to appreciate family values. But for me, Game of Thrones has probably done more to make me appreciate my teetotalling, conservative upbringing than anything produced by the purveyors of “family friendly” entertainment.

“Me Too” is a Branch Issue, and a Distraction

My first reaction to this campaign was a bit of umbrage on the part of lumping the many degrees of sexual harassment in with the many degrees of sexual assault. They aren’t the same. I shared that first reaction on Facebook in a couple of places and got some interesting discussion going. But as I thought about it some more, I realized what was going on here.

Jessica’s Journey (1h20m) – Episode 084

Episode 084 welcomes Jessica Burden to the podcast for a chat with Skyler. Topics include: books, living in Washington State, Facebook diplomacy, free range childhood, public school to homeschool to unschool, and back to public school, raising her younger brother, learning responsibility from a young age, meeting her husband through an online dating website, practicing several different parenting philosophies at once, the benefits of multi-generational households, unschoolers considering school, parental displays of affection, our growing children and the forthcoming teen years, !Kung san bushmen parenting, her availability for anyone, especially women, for counseling on having babies and body image.

Cowardice is Not a Virtue

First and foremost, pushing a “legislative” solution always amounts to condoning a violent solution. “Laws” are not polite suggestions; they are threats of force. “Gun control,” while usually framed in vague, euphemistic terms by its proponents, is gun violence. It is politicians threatening to send men with guns after any mere peasant who possesses something that the masters say they are not allowed to possess.