This morning's rant is brought to you by the idiots behind the TV show Becker. And I'll be ranting about sex, too. :)

Viacom has demanded that all its shows will deal with the HIV/AIDS problem. That's fine and their choice as a company. But Sunday's episode (which I finally watched last night) was exactly what I was afraid of.

One of the plots of the show concerned a young man who comes to Dr. Becker. The "good" doc thinks the patient might have gotten an STD, so he runs some tests. When the man returns, the doc gives him some condoms. That brings up this brilliant exchange.

Patient: I don't need to worry about AIDS. I'm not a homosexual, don't visit prostitutes, and even if I did, there's something that makes it all pretty much go away, right?
Becker: Congrats, you've reached a level usually only shown in Republicans and other lower primates.

Hysterical. Funny. The audience laughed.

So, for our happy ending, the guy finally decides that the rewards aren't worth it and using a condom, having safe sex, is the best possible way to stay safe. What's wrong with this picture? First of all, condoms truly aren't safe. They don't protect 100% of the time, and that one time they don't is enough. As much as Friends has moral problems, at least they admitted that much with Rachel's pregnancy. (And, yes, I watch Friends in spite of it all.) So, really, the "good" doc did nothing to protect the kid.

And that's the other thing. This young guy was 15. That's right, 15 years old. If they'd made him 20, I could have handled it better. But 15!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And not once did we discuss whether or not he should even be having sex with lots of different girls. (Which he was very proud of, BTW.)

If we truly want to stop the AIDS epidemic, we need to actually start teaching respect for yourself and self control. We are not animals. We can control our desires to eat, have sex, etc. That is the safest sex imaginable and the surest way to stop the spread of AIDS.

Not bad for a primitive Repub., huh?

I'm declaring today rant day on my blog. I'll have another for you this afternoon. (And I can't wait to see what kind of hits I get from this entry. :) )