Stupidest statement ever made in an interview of John Updike: This screamer from Nerve’s Will Doig:
One of the things that compels Ahmad to terrorism in this book is his hatred of America’s permissive attitude toward sex. And yet from where I stand, America seems more sexually repressed than ever. How is there such a disconnect between what he sees and what I see?
How thick would one’s blinders have to be to believe that America in 2006 is “more sexually repressed than ever”? Six inches? A foot? How ignorant of history would one have to be? Particularly if one is an editor for an Internet magazine devoted entirely to sex? Sheesh.
A bit like the common Christian screeds of repression in public life.
Megachurch anyone?