The governor of Alabama should get a beatdown from that girlie earring-wearing Stone Cold Steve Austin very soon.
Also, I want to hear what that girlie governor Jesse Ventura thinks of it.
If god didn’t want me to screw the governor’s daughter he wouldn’t have made us so horny.
Just to point out a few things that make the statements a little less ludicrous:
First, this wasn’t some sort of trumpets-blaring, go-tell-it-on-the-mountain edict delivered from the spire of the Alabama state capital. The governor was asked a question about the specific incident of the 8-year old boy wearing the earring at a news conference, and apparently spoke without thinking first.
Secondly, the governor’s 16-year old daughter apparently criticized her father’s statement, saying “I think it’s not the right thing to do for a boy to pierce his ear, but it’s really an individual’s responsibility to make those decisions for themselves”.
My take on it? Stupid comment, but more of a personal opinion than anything having to do with government. Oh well, carry on.
Excuse me? Talking to a mother of an eight year old boy with an earring.
What exactly is it about an earring that you have to be older for? Is this on par with drinking tequila? Shooting heroin? Having sex? Voting?
I don’t get it. Why does he have to be older to have an earring? He wanted one. Personally, I love earrings, and have 8 pierces in my own ears. I wear rings on my fingers, a ring on my toe, and have considered body piercing. It’s not even permanent. If he wants it removed, it won’t cost him a bundle in laser surgery. He simply removes the earring. Done. He was certainly old enough to express his desire for one, he understood that it would hurt, and was even more meticulous about cleaning his than I was about mine. And both his father and his step-father have one.
I find the use of your phrase, Parents need to know when to say “When your older.” insulting. My son has far less leash than a lot of the kids in the neighborhood. I put my foot down on things I consider to be important and/or detrimental. An earring is far too superficial to even bother with.
You may have a thing about kids expressing themselves that way, but you know what? I don’t.
There’s no way I would allow a male child of mine wear an earring. They’re not homosexual, nor are they pirates, so why would they wear them? As far as the “peer pressure” thing goes, so many children nowadays dont have fathers to tell them right from wrong, I’m so sorry for these kids who have single “moms” who allow them to do anything they want.
<smiles nicely and tries hard to restrain self from de-throating a particular trollish person in this thread> Hmm, this is becoming rather non-MPSIMS.
Anyhow, I agree with everything lola has said about “waiting until you’re older” - if the kid is responsible enough to take care of the piercing and you can find a safe place that will pierce him/her, why not? It’s not permanent, it’s not hurting anyone else, and there aren’t any nasty repercussions.
Ross, the original email I received this link in contained a letter from ‘Reverend Shannon Larratt, Church of Body Modification’ to the Governor that says: "If you’d like to follow God’s intentions for us, perhaps you need to institute laws requiring boys to be pierced – after all, this was the norm in Biblical times for men. "
I don’t know if this is true or not and I don’t feel like looking it up, but if it is, I guess it sort of contradicts that (what else is new)? Thanks for the little piece of history BTW.
Ogre, Alabama produced one of the absolute coolest guys I’ve ever met (and the one who introduced me to the straight dope in the first place), so y’all are okay with me. 
As for the Governor’s comments… well, he has no idea that I even exist, yet he called me an idiot, just because I have a “piece of metal” in me. He didn’t say that the piercing looks silly, he said that I am an idiot for having it. What, exactly, does that say about him…?
Oh, I also want to say that I’m very proud of having started a (relatively) successful thread. Go me.
Hey LOLAGRANONALA- What does your husband say about his male offspring wearing feminine jewelry in his ears?.. Curious minds want to know!
So you’ve bred? How frightening.
How do you know that they’re not homosexual? This I gotta hear.
Do you have to pick on Rep. Barr?
As far as I can tell, earrings aren’t particularly feminine these days. Or was this one of those things God personally mentioned to you and the governor of Alabama?
[JDT]
Yeah, and god didn’t mean for us to be circumsized either, I mean, no woman can truly be pleased by a circumsized penis, they do all that moving around and making noise when that happens, that’s not right or natural…
[/JDT]
I’m really surprised no one else went there…
The way it was explained to me, the sides switch when you cross the Mississippi (or was it the Rockies?).
I’ve always heard that left ear was correct, unless you wanted to be really obvious that you were gay. That’s what I notice on over 99% of guys around here (Boston) who have only one ear pierced. As far as I can tell, this holds true across the US, but I’m less sure about Europe.
This just in from the Associated Press:
"A bill was signed into law by President Bush outlawing earrings on all American males, with the following two exceptions:
-
Gays
-
Pirates
Failuer to abide by the terms in this bill can lead to up to six months’ imprisonment, a $2500 fine, or both.
First: why the quotes, Yogi? Second: as even a cursory glance at the story would tell you, the boy has both a mother and a father to teach him right from wrong.
Somehow I doubt their right and wrong is in line with your “thinking.”
“Excuse me?” Comes the frosty tones of a single *mother of an almost 8 year old boy who just so happens to want to get his ear pierced.
(*who thinks an earring on a guy is sexy as hell)
What I what to know yogi, is how do you know your
male children aren’t pirates? I’m sure many’s the night
a hotblooded Alabamian boy has stolen down to the
Birmingham marina along with a gang of school chums
and hijacked a yacht. The constitution must make
cannons commonplace in America, They could mount one
on the sundeck- hoist the Jolly Roger and set to sea
to lay siege to mercruisers and the like. As long as they
were home before dawn and didn’t let their grades slip you’d
never know; if it wasn’t for the earring!
~Oh the year was 1778
How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now…~
I’m sorry, it’s two thirty in the morning, I’ll
take Monty Python out of the CD player and go to bed.
I think I’ll regret this when I wake up… oh well,
never let that stop me before!
The thing to do with a silly remark is fail to hear it.
–Zebadiah J. Carter (Spider Robinson)
Hey, guess what? I have an earring.
Say something smart about it Yogi, I DARE YOU.
As an aside, a friend owns a store and one day a grandmother walked in with her little grandson. As they were leaving the boy asked “Granma, why does he have an earring in his right ear?” (speaking about one of the employees or another customer) to which she replied “Oh, that’s because he either smokes dope or is gay…”
Now, when my friend told me this, I immediately thought “Old Granny scaring up some reactionary BS.” And then I thought about it. Y’know, every single guy I know (including myself) that has an earring in his right ear is either gay or does indeed smoke dope. Pretty funny I thought.
But as for Yogi, let’s see…How best to respond to ignorance like that? Oh yeah: Go felch a dead goat, you rednecked manly man, you…You know how many compliments I get from women for my earring in the right ear? At least once a month for the past 10 years. It’s even been the conversation starter that eventually led to me getting laid. Some women like earrings in guys…I catered to them, not to you. In fact, why in the hell should you care what other guys look like? Is this some deep-down, repressed expression of some inner turmoil? You really would like other guys to dress a certain way so that they’ll look better to you, be more macho for your personal tastes? Hhmmm…interesting. Very very interesting… Methinks we have a guy that would be into the construction worker from the Village People, folks!
-Tcat
Hell, I’m queer, and ain’t no piercings on this bod. Still, pierced tongues feel good when somebody… oh, um, er, never mind! :o
Esprix