Deep thoughts by babies

[dalebert]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ4ZTRGT_EA

[blackie]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ4ZTRGT_EA

How do you talk about the history of infant circumcision without mentioning the Jews?
Didn't they invent it?


http://www.d.umn.edu/~mcco0322/history.htm

According to author David L. Gollaher in his book, Circumcision:  A History of the World's Most Controversial Surgery, the Jewish people borrowed the practice of circumcision from the Egyptians.  Egyptians of the time lived in an intellectually and technically advanced society.  They had a vast understanding of the human body, were respected for their military conquests and great architecture, and were therefore regarded as amazing to their contemporaries.  If the Egyptians performed circumcision, it was considered to be rooted in wisdom.  In Egypt, circumcision was a ritual that transformed the youth into manhood, allowing them into admittance of the divine mysteries.  Although scholars suggest that circumcision was limited to the elite only (priests and pharaohs), others disagree.  Circumcision for the Egyptians was a method of purification; the body's openings were considered portals through which impure and malignant spirits might penetrate.

Judaism adopted circumcision from the Egyptians through Moses, who left Egypt with the Hebrew slaves.  Moses, who could be considered 'the father' of the Jewish tradition, law, rituals, and administrative authority, was not himself circumcised, yet he required all of his followers to be circumcised.  Some rabbis believed that Moses was not admitted into heaven because he was not circumcised.  In the Torah, God says to

Abraham that circumcision was a part of the Covenant, or part of man's promise to God.  By being circumcised, God ensured the promise of fertility to the Jewish people.  Circumcision also served as a tribal sign; without it, one was banished from the tribe, which was certain death for the Jewish people were desert inhabitants.  The ritual of circumcision was therefore applied to all Jewish males, and because of this, writers began to consider circumcision as a normal step as to how the penis was supposed to function as God intended.   Therefore, many people were led to believe that circumcision was healthy and natural.  References to circumcision are found throughout the Old Testament, but they are vague as to how and at what age the action of circumcision itself was to be performed.



During the time of Moses, flint knives were used to perform circumcision on males who had reached puberty.  The use of flint knives was very important in early Jewish tradition, for Anthropologists state that the stone blade symbolized a connection to the earth and its elements.  As in other cultures, the mixture of blood and stone has been a characteristic of tribal circumcision throughout the world.  After the time of Moses, the tradition of Jewish circumcision was altered from being performed at the stage of male puberty to that of the neonatal stage, typically being performed on the eighth day after birth.  This was done to forcefully conform the male infant into the Jewish community, for circumcision was a distinct symbol of Jewish culture.  In fact, the Jewish practice of neonatal circumcision is a perfect example of hierarchal control over the body, for the infant, who was too young to decide for himself, was subjected to a Jewish hierarchal system and religion, whether he desired to or not.  A modern example of hierarchal control over the body is the United States Armed Forces.  In his book, Culture and the Human Body:  An Anthropological Perspective, John W. Burton provides this example by stating, "Boot camp, or basic training, is at one and the same time a period of teaching and taunting.  Perfectly made beds, perfectly shined shoes, and perfectly controlled bodies are all pieces of the same matrix.  Indeed, it is in the nature of military hierarchy that the individual is totally subsumed by the system..."[2]



The hierarchal tradition of circumcision was challenged when Alexander the Great conquered Jewish lands between 334 B.C. and 331 B.C., and as a result, Greek culture swept through Jewish communities.  It was counter to Greek beliefs to violate the natural human form, and this caused young Jewish men to try to appear to be uncircumcised, which greatly annoyed Jewish rabbis.  In response, Jewish rabbis argued that the foreskin was an imperfection that needed to be cut off in order to reveal the correct human male form.  Thereafter, the Jewish hierarchal stance on circumcision was challenged by both practicing Jews and non-Jews.  Throughout the Dark Ages and the Middle Ages, Jewish officials continually had to justify the tradition of circumcision, and their success is apparent because circumcision remains an integral part of the Jewish religion to this day.[3]

Jews have circumcision parties. Seriously, WTF?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_milah

[Free libertarian]

I once had a dog talk to me....I swear.  I was discussing getting him "fixed" , when he overheard me and said, "wouldn't it be more accurate to describe cutting my balls off as broken" ?  Not everybody has had a talking dog or experienced their wisdom.