Naked Lunch
Some time ago, I was pointed to the website ideasforseattle.org. Ostensibly, the idea is that a bunch of people come up with ways to improve the Emerald City. I don't think a single one of the ideas was put forth by a normal person. We've got "legalize it," "spend more on light rail," "free wi-fi," "revitalize Pioneer Square," "make Seattle the most bike friendly city in the nation." And so on. I could pick apart any of those ideas (though I think legalizing marijuana with very specific regulations would be OK) but I'm not going to, because there's one idea that deserves its own blog entry.
Over 2,200 votes have been cast for "Set aside park beach areas for European-style clothing-optional recreation (sunbathe+skinny dip)". Because the Body Pride Day, Solstice Parade and so on aren't content with doing that just one day out of the year.
If you want to be naked on your own property, I say go nuts and I won't stop you. If you're a pleasant-to-look-at female, I really won't stop you. (On the other hand, I think the male form is just awful to look at, and I know because I do every day. Yecch.)
I know everyone is saying, "Hey, wait a minute, you're as libertarian as they come. Isn't stripping off your clothes as liberating as can be?" Well, yes. Yes it can be. But that's not my beef.
Everyone who expects that the Seattle Clothing Optional Peninsula isn going to look like the grotto at the Playboy Mansion is terribly wrong. You're not going to be writing letters that begin "Dear Penthouse Forum, I know this is going to sound like a crazy fantasy but every word of this story is true…I was invited to a naked volleyball game by three beautiful young ladies. And it was glorious. We lost 21-3, but I had a great time."
The problem is that the people who don't belong at a nude beach are the ones that would be there. (speaking from experience: I've been out lolling around in water, and suddenly was swarmed by a bunch of guys from Greenpeace looking to dislodge whatever was stuck in my blowhole. Much to my consternation and protestation.)
On the other hand, what if you're one of those "pleasant to look at" people I referred to before? (And let's open that up to males, before I get reams of hate mail) I think that a comely person trying to sunbathe would be incredibly creeped out at the knowledge that they're being looked at by creepy guys or gals. So the good-lookin' folk stay home because they don't want undue attention drawn to themselves, and the people who shouldn't be out naked, would be there. Nobody wins.
[Yes, I realize that my entire premise is incredibly looks-ist, and should be taken with a large dollop of good humor instead of taken literally.]
Seattle is tens of millions of dollars in debt. There's an enormous disconnect between cop-haters and cops; and the cop-haters who have been unelected but still speak for a portion of the community, even though no one asked their opinion. We're spending sixty percent of our transportation money on a form of transit that carries less than five percent of total trips taken. You'd have to be insane to be in Belltown or Pioneer Square after dark. Or at all, sometimes. The Seattle Center Fun Forest will be replaced by either a Chihuly glass installation or a KEXP stage/recording space. We gave up our basketball team; the only one that has won a championship in the last forty years. We let protestors dress up like manatees and disrupt traffic to make a point, and a member of the City Council gets in on the action, and the police are instructed not to arrest anyone. And why would they? The mayor was previously a community organizer.
The city that I remember fondly is disappearing, replaced by disarray and craziness. Get back to solvency. Fix transportation. Make our town safe again. Make our town fun again. Then worry about naked beaches. No one gives a darn about carbon neutral if their car hits a pothole every other street, and the same applies to nakedness.
Over 2,200 votes have been cast for "Set aside park beach areas for European-style clothing-optional recreation (sunbathe+skinny dip)". Because the Body Pride Day, Solstice Parade and so on aren't content with doing that just one day out of the year.
If you want to be naked on your own property, I say go nuts and I won't stop you. If you're a pleasant-to-look-at female, I really won't stop you. (On the other hand, I think the male form is just awful to look at, and I know because I do every day. Yecch.)
I know everyone is saying, "Hey, wait a minute, you're as libertarian as they come. Isn't stripping off your clothes as liberating as can be?" Well, yes. Yes it can be. But that's not my beef.
Everyone who expects that the Seattle Clothing Optional Peninsula isn going to look like the grotto at the Playboy Mansion is terribly wrong. You're not going to be writing letters that begin "Dear Penthouse Forum, I know this is going to sound like a crazy fantasy but every word of this story is true…I was invited to a naked volleyball game by three beautiful young ladies. And it was glorious. We lost 21-3, but I had a great time."
The problem is that the people who don't belong at a nude beach are the ones that would be there. (speaking from experience: I've been out lolling around in water, and suddenly was swarmed by a bunch of guys from Greenpeace looking to dislodge whatever was stuck in my blowhole. Much to my consternation and protestation.)
On the other hand, what if you're one of those "pleasant to look at" people I referred to before? (And let's open that up to males, before I get reams of hate mail) I think that a comely person trying to sunbathe would be incredibly creeped out at the knowledge that they're being looked at by creepy guys or gals. So the good-lookin' folk stay home because they don't want undue attention drawn to themselves, and the people who shouldn't be out naked, would be there. Nobody wins.
[Yes, I realize that my entire premise is incredibly looks-ist, and should be taken with a large dollop of good humor instead of taken literally.]
Seattle is tens of millions of dollars in debt. There's an enormous disconnect between cop-haters and cops; and the cop-haters who have been unelected but still speak for a portion of the community, even though no one asked their opinion. We're spending sixty percent of our transportation money on a form of transit that carries less than five percent of total trips taken. You'd have to be insane to be in Belltown or Pioneer Square after dark. Or at all, sometimes. The Seattle Center Fun Forest will be replaced by either a Chihuly glass installation or a KEXP stage/recording space. We gave up our basketball team; the only one that has won a championship in the last forty years. We let protestors dress up like manatees and disrupt traffic to make a point, and a member of the City Council gets in on the action, and the police are instructed not to arrest anyone. And why would they? The mayor was previously a community organizer.
The city that I remember fondly is disappearing, replaced by disarray and craziness. Get back to solvency. Fix transportation. Make our town safe again. Make our town fun again. Then worry about naked beaches. No one gives a darn about carbon neutral if their car hits a pothole every other street, and the same applies to nakedness.