152 Comments

You nailed it. These people want everyone to praise them for being brave enough to be honest and "open" about what they really want. Because the goal of our society now is for each individual to do whatever they want without judgment or repercussion...that is, unless you disagree with "anything goes," then you're the enemy and must be stopped.

The family is the foundation of our society (because there will be no society without it), so here's yet another notch toward our decline.

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Jan 26·edited Jan 26

To "Parody," who wrote a lengthy reply to me and then deleted it. Whether a coward, a robot, or a troll...maybe you'll revisit this or not, but I'm bothered that I feel you're misinterpreting my comment.

My point is not that I am stating I have some kind of authority to tell anyone what to do or how to be. I believe in what it actually means to be an American, which is to live in Freedom. My point is that no one is without judgment (not that I'M the judge; that there IS a judge, whether you call it God, Karma, the Universe or whatever). My point is that there ARE repercussions to your actions, and many of these people who are loudly proclaiming this to be a new norm want for there to be NO responsibility (and, in fact want praise). But actions have impacts, regardless of what they are. If you want to live you life free and wild and be with whomever you want whenever you want, great for you. Just don't shove it in my face and expect me to pat you on the back.

Never did I state that these people are my enemy. I don't think in those terms; unfortunately many of them do and would call me the enemy, just as you are implying I am. I feel sorry for those people, because they are wrapped up in a world that promises everything and in the end will deliver nothing. I'm not saying our past or present in regards to the family is perfect. I'm saying that the family is the way forward - that's my belief, and I think history will back me up on this.

P.S. Including phrases like "the patriarchy" and "the oppressed" tells me that you're the brainwashed one.

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I lived in Luxor, Egypt for three years and got out during Covid--having helped a woman escape a mob of violent men. The men there take advantage of foreign women, marry them because they are allowed to marry four women in Islam, and then fleece them for all their money. Practically all the villas you see on the west bank of Luxor are built on money from these women. The women end up with no money, abused, and stuck there. These men justify their actions by saying at least they marry the women, while people in the West have no morals, they have affairs, hide behind hypocrisy, and basically act like Alex describes here. They truly believe that all Western women are prostitutes. What they do in Luxor is truly horrific however, what's going on in the United States, etc., with a loss of morals, a loss of connection to our Judeo-Christian values is not doing us any favors. And you can't even talk about "Judeo-Christian values" now without being called a Nazi. When I wrote about Luxor, not a single Western news outlet would touch the story--they were all woke and found it soooo offensive. I was accused of being, well, a Karen (which happens to be my name, double whammy). The irony is that the biggest LIBERAL news outlet in Egypt, Egyptian Streets, published it. What I discovered while living in Luxor was truly appalling. It's a wake-up call. "Tales of Eclipse: The Lost Foreign Women of Luxor. https://khmezek.substack.com/p/tales-of-eclipse-the-lost-foreign

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And this is the same type of men who control Gaza, and the rest of the Muslim world How so many women in the western world can go out a protest in support of them and this deplorable attitude and behavior is beyond me.

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It's incredibly scary. It's like the West is purposely destroying itself--inviting the enemy in.

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Recall journalist Lara Logan was gang raped there in public by a mob while she was working

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Yes, what happened to her is horrific, but it happened and still happens to many women. After my article was published, many women contacted me privately. One woman told me she wished she could tell her story but if she did, she wouldn't live to see another day--another words, she would be killed. I started the first and only boxing club for girls in Luxor, a miracle in itself, and really got beneath the surface of what goes on there--I'm still working on that story, in between all my other writing.

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Can't top that. We have collectively lost our moral compass. We are heading toward the last days of the Roman Empire. Infanticide (abortion), widespread drug use (Bacchanals) and "open marriage". Maybe we are there already. I'm sure there were good people who lead decent lives in even that society. The bad apples get all the press--and write books that try to justify their bad choices. Luxor sounds like a gilded hell.

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“Sensual pleasures have the fleeting brilliance of a comet; a happy marriage has the tranquility of a lovely sunset.” —Ann Landers

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Sooooooo many people have lost meaning in life. We used to live for our families and our communities. Then we were convinced to live for wealth, and wealth is antithetical to a healthy spirit. We destroyed our spiritual health, and with it our mental, health, and with it our physical health, and we traded it for gluttony - in all its forms. And these people are "happy" - similar to how someone is happy as they're gorging on ice cream for the first time, and the 20th time, and by the 200th time you realize how shallow and empty and hopeless this is. Nothing wrong with liking sex, and what partners decide to do together is their business, but every search for meaning or happiness that is in service to one's self, rather than service to someone else, is, and will always be, hopeless.

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So so funny. Great article and everything I ever thought about this "movement" 🤣🤣. Definitely they are not being honest like in how they present this whole deal and it basically is just a me-me-me burrito or cake and eat it to scenario. Seems like a lot of work....I don't know how anyone has the time, between my full-time job and parenting and life I am like busy. These people must have extra time! Lol 🤣🤣

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That's what I always think! How do you have the time and energy to keep up multiple "relationships." How can they possibly detach the act from becoming emotionally involved, unless they're sociopaths? And they can't all be...so that must be exhausting.

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It's not about keeping up "relationships." It's a pastime. It's playing pickleball. It's the complete disassociation of sex from intimacy.

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Maybe but at some point it requires an effort, even pickle balls does.... oops bad analogy

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founding

Take one more step and you're there.

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or just one...

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My wife told me this:

Rule 1. Make sure you don't get caught.

Rule 2. you'll get caught.

It was all in fun but something i never forgot. lol

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Your post made me smile, so thank you. But on a serious note, consider this, y'all. Sometimes it doesn't get discovered til after you're gone. Does anyone really want to argue that that qualifies as getting away with it? Your spouse is dealing with your loss and then comes to find out s/he didn't really know you as well as s/he thought. The previously unaware children may learn of it as well. I know someone to whom this happened - and she learned of it in one of the saddest ways possible. By the time someone's grandchildren pass away, the memory of the person who passed is usually gone from this earth. How do we want to be remembered by the only people who are gonna care anyway?

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I felt the same. When i was traveling on business and had free time I enjoyed the peace and quiet!! lol

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Only a true dipshit wants more than one woman, or one man, to have to think about.

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well I did - small versions of myself. i learned the hard way. lol

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It’s all part of the elitists grander dystopian plan. No religion and no kids to bind a marriage and no more morals. Why would you be surprised at the outcome ?

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Whenever I get depressed reading about stuff like this, I remind myself that natural selection will (hopefully) save us.

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My exact conversation with my wife last night. I believe in the end all this will be just swept away in 50 years. My wife and I have 2 kids under 3. We are going to try for our third this summer. Most of our friends have 2 kids and they all want a 3rd. Minimums on our street is 2 kids, most have 3 or 4. So long way of saying people who want families are going back to bigger families. And those that don't want families or want a completely different lifestyle will not repopulate. Ya overall population is going drop big time. But those that are left will be stronger and bigger families.

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I hope you have that third (or 4th). We were only able to have 2 children and I know that is more than a lot of people can have but I would have liked at least one more. We were fortunate to homeschool their whole lives and there is definitely an economy of scale when homeschooling.

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We had four and now 14 grandkids. Crazy, in a fabulous sort of way.

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God bless you, your wife, and those kids!

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Boston College cost 300k, stick to two and take them to Chatham for summer vacation, have 3 and go no where

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

I was orphaned when I was 10 years old, after both my parents died of cancer. My family was split up and my sister, 6 brothers, and I were sent to live in various foster homes. I missed them every day. I never regretted not having elaborate vacations because of them.

We are old now and all of us still share a special love. The love of our parents that gave us all the same name.

The greatest gift you can ever give your children is not material things, or vacations, or college, it is siblings and a loving home.

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I was tongue in cheek, but I feel what you say, I am 1 of 9, 6 of us survive. Each morning we send an e mail circle just to make sure we are all okay, having lost 3 early

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No worries. I thought you were being serious. Sorry if I killed your joke, LOL.

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We made decisions because of the kids that cost us some really awesome vacations. never bothered me once.

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Thanks for sharing us the agony of the research you had to do. Lots of cultural rot out there.

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Something is not right with the world. This garbage feels like a symptom of deeper rot. And family destruction. Of course I have been married to the same woman for 53 years so I'm probably not a good judge of these people. We've raised our kids and are helping now with grandchildren. I feel sorry for people like the polyamorous that they may never feel the deep connection I feel with my wife.

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While not new, old enough to have been on this old timer’s radar (swingers, key parties, etc., of the previous millennia/century) this is just an extension of "serial monogamy." In line with my previous response to these articles, it’s a factor of too much money, too little productive stimulation, too many options, and too few challenges; and few if any consequences. I suppose one could/should envelope all this in a breakdown of traditional morals (ooh, the dreaded "Christian Morality Cop").

Since I can’t (and honestly, would rather not) put myself in their shoes (Lordy, walking in my own shoes is challenging enough), I have to make deductions based on observations; this is a very selfish lifestyle, it feels very YouTube Shorts/TikTok centric re: experiences -- that is, sticking with something past the initial rush is discarded in favor of only experiencing the initial rush. In short: could this just be another form of addiction, always needing something new, something more. In the most well known addictions (drugs, porn, etc.) you get ramping up of dopamine with more or more frequent "drug" of choice needed to achieve the same "high." And without it, the "drug" of choice, you can’t function and might even die (or kill yourself).

Also, I’m gonna have to take Berenson’s word that these are often, mostly childless couples, this seems like another assault on society.

Perhaps this is just one more element in the "Great Filter," why advanced alien civilizations may be missing from our attempts to find them.

Oh, one more thing: not an expert but I seem to recall from my extracurricular reading of ancient history how this sounds like what happened in Ancient Rome - the descent into hedonism and its eventual collapse - of course they didn’t have the luxury of our society wide opulence and general excess of resources; and ability to regulate pregnancy/children as we can and do.

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interesting points. One takeaway i have this from the, somewhat mild, negative reactions is that they come from the libertarian notion, which I generally am in line with, of a persons private life is none of our business. However, what if what they are doing screws up society? (With the potential ramifications you point out.) We cant stop them but we can heap ridicule on the people who promote this insanity and point out the problems, namely that there are often victims here. women playing power games may be a nice turnabout but it was just as ugly when men did the same.

As you said we all have to walk in our own shoes and that is more than enough but....what i do not buy is the too much/too little. As you said, there are plenty of options. there are plenty of good ones there too. Its just not chic to promote those, and IMO, therein lies the problem.

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As a (mostly) libertarian myself (constitutional conservative, evangelical Christian libertarian) which probably described the mindset of our founding fathers (just look at the documents they left us and our foundational docs), I believe the issues discussed arise well before these behaviors themselves arise. One of the beauties of Christianity is it makes you aware of how our individual actions impact others -- looking at this through a Jewish lens from the 10 Commandments, that was the central theme: 1-4 - RELATIONSHIP with God, 5: RELATIONSHIP with parental units, 6-10: RELATIONSHIP with others. Out of those 10 we have some of the most memorable parables, 2 being the adulterous woman (who will cast the first stone?) and the Good Samaritan (who’s our neighbor?).

Out of those relational concepts (God, family, society) arose the greatest civilizations man has yet to know. All other successful civs today piggybacked on the technological progress Biblical/Christian societies made. As those foundational precepts have been displaced with other more "enlightened" isms, freedom, liberty/libertarianism, oppression, etc., have proliferated. As much as adamantly anti-Christian believers protest our heritage, they also are unwilling to move to where such opposing beliefs hold sway. Their freedom, their very lives would be forfeit in, say, Muslim communities where there beliefs and behaviors would be swiftly dealt with, Voicing their opinion of government actions would find them in "hot water" in any of the nations where communism/marxism reign.

Personally, with my deep belief in Biblical orthodoxy, I of course see the work of the fallen angel, Lucifer, in all this.

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Good points but but there is an economic concept at lay here too. That is, the concept of "free riders." the people you describe as being "talking deadmen" as Molotov described them in the communist or muslim society are comfortable destroying our society because they are aware of the tolerance of our society. so they use that tolerance act in a way that destroys society assuming someone else will bear the cost and shield them from the worst outcome.

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No argument.

Didn’t say anything re: economics as it came up in first reply. But, yes, whether it’s intentional, as you say, or unconscious behavior due to governmental/societal incentive or pressures…

Hence: the bigger the government the smaller the citizen; and 🤔 {now where did I put that thought}

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well its an economic term not economics. sorry for the confusion

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Coming from 48 years of marriage, three essential ingredients:

Love

Respect

Commitment

You live to care for your spouse.

Your spouse lives to care for you.

Each relies on and completely trusts the other.

Otherwise, stop disrespecting the word marriage; you're not in one.

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Two words, Moral Relativism. This is the undercurrent of all the problems in the US and in most parts of the world. It's OK to rape Israeli women and burn babies alive, look no further than the Pro Terrorist protests that we see. Its Ok to kill newborn babies in the name of someone's delusional "right" to do whatever they want, with praise for such actions trying to "normalize" infanticide. Everything is relative to these people as long as it doesn't conflict with how the "feel", or what they really want.

Nothing good can come of this.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

Really all comes down to free will and choice. If you think it is not normal to have urges and temptation and or curiosity you are in denial. God gave us all the option to choose how you live and act. It's not rocket science. I believe people should choose as they see fit as will I

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

God gave us free will. We can choose to be monogamous or not, but He told us not to commit adultery. I like to think of God's commandments as the owner's manual, written by the creator. I can choose not to change the oil every 3000 miles, but I should not be surprised if the engine fails because I didn't follow the designer's instructions.

In these "open marriages" someone always gets hurt. One partner thinks it's a lark but the other is devastated when the relationship inevitably fails. And, if there are children in the union, they always suffer. Don't believe the bullshit that has been peddled for 75 years about amicable divorces. The poor kids always suffer. And, society does too, as a consequence.

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Well stated!

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Except for using profanity after invoking G-d

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founding

Let us know how your spouse takes the news.

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Not married currently, but my ex who passed away agreed with me, and we are both Christians and chose monogamy and had no issues. My point it not all people are believers hence they have a choice too as we all do. I'm just not judging is all. Free will and choice...

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Free will also means consequences. There are many consequences to the lifestyle being presented here. Most of them impact those who had nothing to do with the reckless decision(s) (like kids). The difference here is that it's being presented as normal, and it's not. I said it before and I'll say it again, it all comes back to character and integrity.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 25

Again I agree...actions and choices have consequences. Your choice is for YOU to make is the point. All of us are given the opportunity to make our OWN choice and or choices is the greater point

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I’m curious: why not judging?

Not Christian? 🤔

I almost always point out the verse in question says, judge not lest you be judged — yeah, KJV, how I first heard it. Basically, if you’re gonna judge be aware you’ll be standing before the throne as well. We have a duty, an obligation to point out immorality, sin, wrong behavior, etc. Such that we’re given guidance on how to do so: approach your brother alone (secretly?), then with others, and only then when all else fails go before the whole congregation.

While this may be directed toward believers, why is the concept not pertinent to society at large. Over the last hundred years or so our common heritage, traditions, has been so watered down that expecting a common, unified code of behavior has been tossed. As a result we have a society that is going in multiple diverse directions. Sufficiently so that people with nefarious plans, ideas, are able to slip in and do damage.

A house divided is doomed to fail.

Our founders knew this: we were given a Constitutional Republic, if we could keep it. We’d only be able to keep it if we remained a moral and {??} people. If not, then we descend into anarchy and a strong ubiquitous (oppressive) government will be needed — and I dare anyone to argue that is not what we are on the verge of having.

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How his spouse takes the news is not our business.

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The death of any marriage affects all of society. It is our collective concern.

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were:

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.... John Donne

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founding

I hope your spouse takes the news well.

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He did give us the ability to choose. But He also made it very clear what He considers godly and what He considers ungodly. Choose what you will. But simply having the ability to choose doesn’t mean your choice carries God’s stamp of approval.

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founding

Nothing good ever comes out of me me me

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Jan 25·edited Jan 26

Don't be so hard on yourself! 😉

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There is nothing more beautiful than being loyal and committed to your spouse. Marriage is much work, but it’s rewarding beyond comprehension. I married my high school sweetheart at age 19 (in 1977); he was 21. We celebrate 47 years of marriage this May. When these people wake up and realize what they’ve done, or are doing, their regret will be so painful, and I pray that they wake up and repent.

This is another symptom of our decaying world. This has always been happening, but immorality is celebrated now in ways like never before.

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Jan 25·edited Jan 26

Over 100 years ago, in 1919, Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem, The Gods of the Copybook Headings, about what would happen when we jettison all the traditional moral principles we were taught when we were young. (The copybook was a book where Victorian schoolchildren practiced their handwriting by copying moral principles, sayings and adages like "Better the devil you know...etc". These moral principles represent the gods in the title.)

Kipling predicted most of what we are seeing today; and he predicted that it will all go horribly wrong but eventually right itself:

...On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life

(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)

Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,

By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;

But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew

And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true

That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four

And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

...

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins

When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,

As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn

The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

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