Presentism

I was spending some time over the past couple of days looking at articles about the late David Bowie. Most of them concentrated on his career in both music and film. Most didn't bother me because although I wasn't a big fan of his, I understood his importance. Unfortunately, there have been a spate of what I call chickenshit articles and blog posts by so-called feminists, who engage in something called "presentism" and say that Bowie doesn't deserve all of the praise because he had sex with underage groupies long ago.

Oh, the horror! I can about bet that 99 percent of these dingbats calling themselves feminists weren't even alive when all of that freewheeling crap went on in the 1960s and 1970s. This was not at all similar to the Bill Cosby mess, where the women were slipped drugs or were harassed and didn't consent to anything. These groupies went after these older rockers, and, being men, they reciprocated in kind. None of them carded these young women. Statutory rape laws were hardly ever enforced, and they would typically be used if a parent got upset about his or her daughter's relationship with an older man (boys usually weren't involved with much-older women).

And then some of these idiot bloggers and writers made the same ludicrous claim about Elvis Presley and Priscilla Beaulieu without checking any sources. I am not referring to the Currie Grant bullshit, bullshit that got him sued by Priscilla, which isn't reliable. The truth was the relationship was not consummated until they were married in 1967 and is completely consistent with the way Elvis was with women he cared about. Priscilla was well past the "age of consent" by then. Elvis knew better because of what had happened with Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, with big scandals over Berry's violating the Mann Act and Lewis marrying his 13-year-old cousin. But hey, all of these men were pedophiles.

The only "moral" rock star during that period in terms of sexual conduct was Pat Boone, and he was 1950s. Hell, he went so far as to refuse to kiss an actress onscreen in any movie he was in because he wanted to be completely faithful to his wife.

It would nice if these birdbrained, self-styled "feminists" would actually hit the dictionary and know what "pedophilia" is. Hint: It doesn't involve young people who have attained puberty.

Anyway, I loathe "presentism." Taking the way things were decades ago and then feign outrage and distort what happened to fit modern sensibilities is total dishonesty.

The most infamous example of presentism is all of the bullshit surrounding the dropping of the atom bomb on the Japanese. You would think, to read the bullshit which often emanates from the so-called "left," that the United States was the villain and Japan was this innocent country full of lovable people. Never mind Pearl Harbor and suicide missions.

That always pissed me off because I always regarded it as a pack of lies to further an agenda.

Same with the fake Bowie outrage.

Obituary: David Bowie

I am typing this pretty late tonight, but I am sad to report that rock great David Bowie has passed away after a long battle with liver cancer. He had just turned 69 the other day. He died surrounded by family, including his wife, Iman. They had been married for 23 years. As an aside, I was surprised she is the same age I am, so the age gap wasn't all that big.

Bowie's biggest years were in the 1970s, where his androgynous appearance had fit the times. When he was young, he always looked like something the cats dragged in. He was a living scarecrow. Later on he filled out, and he wasn't a bad-looking guy at all.

In addition to his musical career, he had success as an actor.

More:

"David Bowie died peacefully today surrounded by his family after a courageous 18 month battle with cancer. While many of you will share in this loss, we ask that you respect the family’s privacy during their time of grief," read a statement posted on the artist's official social media accounts.

The influential singer-songwriter and producer dabbled in glam rock, art rock, soul, hard rock, dance pop, punk and electronica during his eclectic 40-plus-year career. He just released his 25th album, Blackstar, Jan. 8, which was his birthday.

Bowie’s artistic breakthrough came with 1972’s The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, an album that fostered the notion of rock star as space alien. Fusing British mod with Japanese kabuki styles and rock with theater, Bowie created the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust.

Three years later, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the No. 1 single “Fame” off the top 10 album Young Americans, then followed with the 1976 avant-garde art rock LP Station to Station, which made it to No. 3 on the charts and featured top 10 hit “Golden Years.”

Cancer just absolutely sucks.

He was born David Jones, but because there was another David Jones, namely DAVY Jones of the Monkees, he went ahead and changed his name.

Here is some vintage Bowie from 1974:



New York Times has an obituary here.

Bowie had been in terrible health in recent years. In addition to the cancer, he had had SIX heart attacks. He spent much of his time with his daughter, even walking her to school. Despite having poor health and spending his time out of the public eye living quietly in his homes in NYC and in upstate NY, he still managed to record. He released his final album on his birthday this last Friday.