Althouse: Kissing! Yay!!!

May 9, 2011

Kissing! Yay!!!

35 comments:

Triangle Man said...: Cute, but does it cross a line? The adult on the audio seems to think so.; 5/9/11, 1:30 PM
Kensington said...: That was cute.

I hope they didn't shag later that day, though. With the modern schools, you never can tell.

I remember my first kiss. I was about that boy's age. The little girl down the block and I accidentally locked ourselves in a garage. She freaked out, so I kissed her to calm her down. It worked.

But then as soon as someone let us out she told everyone that I kissed her. I was soooooooooooo embarrassed.; 5/9/11, 1:31 PM
chuck b. said...: Will this make me throw up if I watch it?; 5/9/11, 1:35 PM
Triangle Man said...: Will this make me throw up if I watch it?

If two kids sharing a first kiss makes you puke, then yes, you will totally barf because that is exactly what happens.; 5/9/11, 1:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Cute, but does it cross a line? The adult on the audio seems to think so."

The adult is the personification of the origin of shame.; 5/9/11, 1:50 PM
Ann Althouse said...: I love the look on the boy's face at 0:18.; 5/9/11, 1:51 PM
Kensington said...: Are we sure these two aren't brother and sister? Maybe that's why the adult starts freaking out.; 5/9/11, 1:59 PM
Palladian said...: If you want to talk about shame and embarrassment, try being a 5 year old boy who is caught by his daycare worker sharing his first kiss with a boy named Lance underneath the hollow concrete turtle in the courtyard of the Garment Worker's Union preschool.; 5/9/11, 2:00 PM
edutcher said...: The little boy is going to be dangerous at close range in about 10 years.

Ann Althouse said...

"Cute, but does it cross a line? The adult on the audio seems to think so."

The adult is the personification of the origin of shame.

I would say she's more interested in respect and propriety, but shame isn't bad.

A little more shame in this society and we wouldn't have venereal disease (AIDS, among others), unwed mothers, absentee fathers, and drug abuse at the levels we do.; 5/9/11, 2:02 PM
ricpic said...: The first notch on his belt.; 5/9/11, 2:09 PM
Palladian said...: Yes, shame is a great anti-viral!

No shame-filled person has ever gotten a sexually-transmitted disease!

Shame-filled people never resort to anonymous sex in restrooms and bushes!; 5/9/11, 2:10 PM
edutcher said...: Palladian said...

Yes, shame is a great anti-viral!

No shame-filled person has ever gotten a sexually-transmitted disease!

Shame-filled people never resort to anonymous sex in restrooms and bushes!

Oh, cram it.

The phrase, "My God, what would people say?", (or even, "My mother/father would kill me") has kept a lot of people from making some very stupid mistakes.; 5/9/11, 2:17 PM
Patrick said...: That could be either really sweet or creepy, so I'll just go with sweet. Maybe a little creepy to put it on the Youtube.; 5/9/11, 2:20 PM
ricpic said...: The "liberation" from shame insures civilizational decline. But the withit people would just call that statement being priggish. And the most important thing is to be withit. We all know that.; 5/9/11, 2:24 PM
ricpic said...: ensures not insures; 5/9/11, 2:25 PM
traditionalguy said...: I thought of was Elizabeth Taylor's first screen test. There was no fear visible in either child's face.; 5/9/11, 2:27 PM
MadisonMan said...: Why would someone be video-ing it?

It's not like what this kid has done is unusual, or noteworthy, except in the eyes of the parent.

Parents: You're kids just aren't all that.; 5/9/11, 2:31 PM
erictrimmer said...: Kissing is an intimate act. It can spread disease. There are more reasons kids shouldn't be kissing than any perceived shamefulness.; 5/9/11, 3:13 PM
erictrimmer said...: Burp at :28 seconds. I missed that the first time. Funny.; 5/9/11, 3:48 PM
KCFleming said...: "The adult is the personification of the origin of shame."

Pace Palladian, shame is under-rated, and (now) rarely used.

Though not infallible, its absence has led to, among other things, the assholes you despise wielding strollers like steamboats, Wisconsin doctors lying on camera about work excuses, and slutwalkers.

The idea in the 60s and 70s was that once shame was abolished, we could all be our true selves.

It failed miserably.; 5/9/11, 4:16 PM
MadisonMan said...: Here's the deal: Stop pushing your kids' "cute" antics in my face, and I'll stop telling you how to raise them.

(Although I rarely tell, and only if asked, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking it); 5/9/11, 4:19 PM
erictrimmer said...: "shame is under-rated, and (now) rarely used."

I'd say it's frequently used... to discourage smoking, overeating, believing in God and expressing conservative political views.; 5/9/11, 4:34 PM
KCFleming said...: Good point.

The Puritans have merely changed their God, their devil, and their sins.; 5/9/11, 4:37 PM
Palladian said...: .... but not their underpants.; 5/9/11, 4:42 PM
Fred4Pres said...: Did she slip him some tongue?

That was bad, I denounce myself.

It is actually kind of cute, till you realize they are brother and sister.; 5/9/11, 4:52 PM
Fred4Pres said...: But it is okay, they are Felini fans.; 5/9/11, 4:53 PM
erictrimmer said...: You guys are so irreverent. Have you no shame?; 5/9/11, 5:06 PM
Anonymous said...: Shame not needed. I explained it to my kids as this: A kiss is a very important promise. Little children are not yet ready to make those kind of promises.

Years later, I asked them what a kiss was, and they remembered.; 5/9/11, 5:07 PM
erictrimmer said...: "A kiss is a very important promise."

I think that's wise and I'll tell it to my own kids when they are older. But I wonder how many people think you're a prude for making such a big deal about kissing.; 5/9/11, 5:59 PM
Big Mike said...: Daddy needs to take little Elliott aside and explain a couple of things to him:

(1) A gentleman does not kiss and tell.

(2) If a girl says "no," she means no. Cease and desist with the kissing, fondling, or whatever else you are doing.

Ignore advice to the contrary from Yale fraternity members.; 5/9/11, 7:44 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Encouraging kids to perform adult romantic actions creeps me out.

If the kids spontaneously kissed each other, that might be cute. (Though if I were the parent, I'd remember to later talk to my kid about kissing and what it means. And I wouldn't be high-fiving my son like, "Way to go with the conquest of that babe!")

Having some adult there leering at them with a camera, hoping they'll kiss each other is, to me, creepy.

It's creepy the way making tiny girls up to look like adult women is creepy.; 5/9/11, 8:46 PM
Methadras said...: That was cute, but you clearly see the personification of the shame and guilt in the voice of the woman telling the boy "Elliot, no more." We actually got to watch sexual repression of the innocent occur.; 5/9/11, 9:25 PM
Skyler said...: They entitle it "Kissing Yay" but at the same time they keep telling the kids to stop kissing.

Are they afraid they're going to start copulating in public?

What a strange reaction.

Cute kids.; 5/9/11, 9:55 PM
erictrimmer said...: Skyler,

They're afraid they'll start copulating in private... not as a result of this innocent kissing, of course, and not for ten years or so.; 5/10/11, 7:27 AM
Anonymous said...: Pogo said...
"The idea in the 60s and 70s was that once shame was abolished, we could all be our true selves. It failed miserably."

No, it succeeded miserably.; 5/10/11, 12:00 PM