Where My Face Begins

There was a lot of reaction to my last post about Fifty Shades of Grey especially regarding what is or is not our business.  Are the actions of my neighbors any of my business?  Do I have any right to say what another person should or should not do?  Well, it all comes down to where my face begins.

Let me explain.  Many years ago a friend and mentor of mine said that, "a person's right to swing their fist ends where your face begins."  It took me a long time to fully understand this.  Basically, a person has the right to walk around swinging their fist all they want... until that fist meets my nose.  When the exercise of rights means harm then those rights need to restrained.  The trick is to define harm.  We understand physical harm.  If a neighbor was abusing their spouse or children we would not hesitate to interfere (I hope).  Maybe we even comprehend emotional harm and abuse.  Do we even consider spiritual or moral harm? 

When any media promotes the control of one person by another it is damaging to our moral fabric.  Dare I say, even more so when it promotes a man dominating a woman.  How hard have we worked to achieve equality (if indeed we are there yet)?  As far as emotional abuse, few people understand the psychological damage that it takes to create a person who confuses abuse for pleasure.  Moreover, the darkness that resides around a person who abuses others for enjoyment.  Certainly promoting emotional harm.  The physical abuse is obvious when the main character has a torture room. 

Does this book harm us?  Is the author swinging her fist where my nose begins?  At best she is socially irresponsible... at worst she is damaging our society on multiple levels. 

OK- enough on this topic.  My fear is I am promoting this book more than condemning it.  SO, stay tuned for a series on Joseph starting next week.