The Decline of Western Civilization?

On Tuesday I was dealing a $2-5 blind NL game when I overheard an interesting conversation. It was not like I was eavesdropping or anything, the young man obviously didn't give a crap who heard him.

He was winners around $800 and had consumed a few adult beverages, complimentary, of course.

Although we now "officially" have a no cell phone rule for our room I've given up on trying to enforce it. If you can talk AND keep the game moving along at the same time, I don't really care if you are on the phone. I've also come to the conclusion that if it was really that big of a deal the floor people or even the manager might make a token attempt at communicating the policy change to the customers. Maybe you could print up a sign stating the policy? Sue me, I don't care.

In any case, this suddenly prosperous young man was burning up his air time minutes trying to find an available hooker. He wasn't going to settle for just ANY hooker, it had to be one of the ones that he had on speed dial. Sure, prostitution is illegal in Clark County but what happens here stays here aparently. The new Embarq Yellow Pages has "Massage" listings from page 1,438 all the way to page 1,482. "Entertainers" grace pages 869 through983. Every one of these ads is protected by Constitution. It's free speech! Perhaps there is irony to be found in the fact that there are 210 pages advertising attorneys.

A sample page

He was lamenting his fate. "Why aren't they ever available when I have money?" Believe me, he, more so than most, was only one hand away from losing his new found "do something special for myself money".

I have no idea how it all turned out.

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Some days I do some super-surfing of the good ol' WWW. I never know where I will end up. I just click and click and click.

Today I found myself landing at the Men's Health forums. I clicked on a thread paying for sex where the topic of conversation dealt with the question of whether a "massage" with a happy ending constituted prostitution.

From there it was a short surf to a thread about showering naked . This thread was started in 2003 and continues to draw attention. If you are able to wade through the homo-erotic bath house myths and the occasional tangent, there is information here about the changing cultural fabric. Any male who has ever suffered through puberty has dealt with this issue. When I went to school, showers after gym class were mandatory. Trust me when I say that if anyone had taken a shower in their underwear they would have ended up in the Finan Center (local psychiatric retreat). I still remember that there was a senior posted at the entrance to the showers, clip board in hand, marking each of us off as we exited the showers. In today's world, this apears to be a law suit waiting to happen and many school districts across the country have banned showers.

I guess times have changed in the last 25 or so years. Maybe it's due to pedophile priests on the all-news-all-the-time channels? Maybe it's due to Madison Avenue? Some even draw parallels between this "modesty" and the increased use of steroids in young men. These and other possible explanations are explored in the 13 pages of posts on the subject.

The generalization of the topic as a whole is that, if possible, the youth of today are even MORE hung up about their bodies than those of us with some grey in our hair are. I'm certainly not an exhibitionist, but When in Rome comes to mind when as recently as Wednesday I treated myself to a (legitimate) massage at Luxor. My routine before and after a massage is to lounge in the sauna/steam room/jacuzzi for a few hours keeping the real world at bay for as long as possible.

After reading through the showering thread I thought back to Wednesday. With the exception of one very large (I'm guessing 400+ pounds) man in a swimming trunks the only other people covered with more than a towel were two young guys in board shorts. As is mentioned in the thread, it seems that in a situation where nudity is the norm, being clothed makes you stand out as an oddity.

I really don't know the answers but maybe somewhere in this train of thought there is a glimpse into the profound cultural changes we experience in a life time.

Then again, maybe there is a legitimate reason for showering in your underwear.

Or maybe I should only think about reading hands and pushing pots. Does anything else really matter?