semper fidelis?

 

 

my Dad was telling me about the Petraeus Mess and the "justifications" being offered to explain the infidelity.  my Dad's an old crank and often will take an extreme position to provoke a fight.....especially with the wingnut aunt and uncle who are the pillars of the local tea party.  i was surprised at his essentially holding that the Petraeus Mess, absent any breaches of national security, was beneath the consideration of decent folks.  anyhoo....as i was driving to work, On Point featured some psychology- types who were discussing very learnedly[*well, I would accuse them of chewing their cabbage twice because it seemed they were just paraphrasing each other and the whole thing seemed to only SOUND "deep"*].  when i asked my Mom why she stayed married to my  Dad despite the fact that she was waaay out of his league, she told me she would kill him before she would ever divorce him.  she had made a vow, and as a person of honor and integrity she kept that vow.   my Dad, when i asked him, said, "well, i was always too scared of your Mama to run around.....it seemed a sure-fire way to get killed. besides, never ran across any that were better."   

 

i have a gut-reaction to those evolutionary psych explainations for infidelity indicating that men just don't have the capacity to master "urges."  it is kind of insulting......essentially, if you strip away all the pretty academic language the position is that a man's default state is he's a kind of rapist intent on scuzzing up the kooch of any female in the vicinity.  i always found monogamy to be a relief.......i didn't have to pay attention to more than one guy.