I expect simple behaviours here. Friendship, and love. Any advice should be from the perspective of the person asking, not the person giving! We have had to make new membership moderated to combat the huge number of spammers who register
When was the last time you saw the word ONANISM used in a newspaper?
Today an American opinion columnist named Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald, in a piece titled "Let 'em up easy" (a referral to Abraham Lincoln's magnanimous approach to treating the Confederate states after the Civil War) discussed the approach of benevolence. The reason being that Republicans are busy making the case that impeachment is divisive and American needs unity, etc., etc., etc. Pitts' point "is not that mercy and reconciliation are bad. They are not. But to meaning, mercy and reconciliation must follow repentance and accountability. Otherwise, they are meaningless, a Band-Aid on a cancer, acts of moral onanism that feel good but produce nothing of lasting value."
There it is: what the Republicans are seeking in place or repentance and accountability is MORAL ONANISM!
Well done, Leonard Pitts!
Except, of course, that associating Onanism with Republicans negatively reflects on onanism!
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13772
"Bensiamin wrote on Thu, 14 January 2021 16:00"
When was the last time you saw the word ONANISM used in a newspaper?
Today an American opinion columnist named Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald, in a piece titled "Let 'em up easy" (a referral to Abraham Lincoln's magnanimous approach to treating the Confederate states after the Civil War) discussed the approach of benevolence. The reason being that Republicans are busy making the case that impeachment is divisive and American needs unity, etc., etc., etc. Pitts' point "is not that mercy and reconciliation are bad. They are not. But to meaning, mercy and reconciliation must follow repentance and accountability. Otherwise, they are meaningless, a Band-Aid on a cancer, acts of moral onanism that feel good but produce nothing of lasting value."
There it is: what the Republicans are seeking in place or repentance and accountability is MORAL ONANISM!
Well done, Leonard Pitts!
Except, of course, that associating Onanism with Republicans negatively reflects on onanism!
Agreed, through from what I can find online [in Slate], "onanism became a synonym for masturbation, appearing in English as early as the 1700s when a publisher named Edmund Curll issued a number of risqué titles that were deemed pornographic. Curll, in his own defense, circulated a pamphlet arguing otherwise. Onanism Display'd, he wrote, was an 'Enquiry into the true Nature of Onan's Sin,' a scientific study "of Self-Pollution, its Causes and Consequences; with three extraordinary Cases of two Gentlemen and a young Lady, who were very much addicted to this Crime.'"
Which gets to the question of origins of the word masturbation, which according to Wikipedia was introduced in the 18th century, based on the Latin verb masturbari, alongside the slightly earlier onanism. The Latin verb masturbari is of uncertain origin. Suggested derivations include an unattested word for penis, mazdo, cognate with Greek mézea μέζεα 'genitals', or alternatively a corruption of an unattested manu stuprare ("to defile with the hand"), by association with turbare 'to disturb'.
Interesting how Onan's "sin" of ejaculating on the ground ended up being dubbed as "pollution," and then Curll (if the historic attribution is correct) applies that negative attribution onto masturbation as 'self-abuse' or 'self-pollution".
Which, sadly, is how most people still view it... until they are doing it to themselves!
Any other historical facts or views on the origins of the usage?
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13772
"Bensiamin wrote on Thu, 14 January 2021 19:02"
Which, sadly, is how most people still view it... until they are doing it to themselves!
--
I have never thought of masturbation in that manner, though I did tell my 'loving' mother that it was toothpaste stains on my pyjamas. IO Was damned if i was going to give her the pleasure of realising her son was human.
I voew masturbation as 100% normal and healthy, and damned good fun
But, returning to your theme, all criminal justice is onanism but that definition.
May I conclude with a hearty "Fuck Trump and the horse he rode in on!" and may his repellent family not enjoy life after the presidency
Location: USA
Registered: October 2006
Messages: 484
Technically, Onan's sin was the deliberate act of refusing to empregnate his brother's wife as demanded by the religious tradition of Jacob's descendants.
“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Location: USA
Registered: October 2006
Messages: 484
Today makes me want to revert back to my church-going days and break out singing the Doxology!
Praise god from whom all blessings flow.
Praise him all creatures here below.
Praise him above ye heavenly hosts.
praise father son and Holy Ghost! Amen!
it seems just blasphemous enough to be fitting! 😂
“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Location: USA
Registered: October 2006
Messages: 484
I love that!
“There's no grays, only white that's got grubby. I'm surprised you don't know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That's what sin is.” - Terry Pratchett
Location: USA
Registered: April 2009
Messages: 429
"Bensiamin wrote on Fri, 22 January 2021 10:44"
OH! BIG NEWS! IT APPEARS THAT THE NOTE TRUMP LEFT FOR BIDEN HAS BEEN FOUND!
--
My 3rd grade teacher, a quaint New England woman, would have been spitting nails at the grammar rules so blantenly broken...spelling errors were cause for an old fashion 100 times writing out the proper spelling...she is still spinning in her grave, but slowly calming down...
As Trump's sycophants continue to promote the lies and try to feed off the outrage, and some of them fall on their own corrupt swords as they do so... it's probably worth keeping this Forum string going!
] 
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