Tabloid journalism is no longer limited to grocery store check out counters. Sensational headlines have become the norm for major magazines and many major newspapers. The November 9 issue of U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT puts a picture of Thomas Jefferson on their front cover and has as their major story his sex life, as if they really knew. The pathetic, and comical, aspect of this is that the editors of that magazine think that's news. Newspapers and TV shows are flooding our living rooms with the latest about his DNA. As one Nobel prize geneticist said "without the actual DNA of Jefferson, they don't have anything worth talking about." A lead headline in a news magazine says WHEN A SAINT BECOMES A SINNER. Only in the peanut brains of a puritan 'moralist' would Jefferson and Sally Hemings be called 'sinners'. Neither was married. Both were consenting adults. She could pass as 'white' and was the half sister of Jefferson deceased wife. According to every biographical record known to me their love for one another was deep and genuine over a period lasting for thirty eight years.
American 'Christian' prudery is archaic. That giant Swiss renaissance man, Dr. Carl Jung, had as his life long mistress Toni Wolff. She was also a good friend of Jung's wife, Emma, who often invited her to join them for dinner. While he was married, Albert Einstein had many affairs and mistresses. Their brilliance combined with their massive contribution to human knowledge was no less because of their sexual relationships. The mistress of Mitterrand, the recent President of France, sat with his wife at his funeral. For those of you who fawn over biblical references, you will surely remember that the great Kings David and Solomon had wives and concubines by the hundreds. And in the Gnostic gospel of Phillip are these words: "The companion of Jesus is Mary Magdalene. He loved her more than all of his disciples and used to kiss her often on the mouth. His disciples asked him "why do you love her more than all of us?"
Out of the 250 societies studied by the Yale University Cross Culture survey, less than 3 percent practiced monogamy in sexual relationships. The American 'Christian' attitude on this subject is not typical. When it comes to sex the prudish, the narrow and the thin lipped moralist do not want any flexibility.
A revealing bit of humor: One major hotel manager told me that the most xxx rated adult films they had ever checked out was when a Christian fundamentalist convention was in the hotel.
In the closing paragraph of a letter that Jefferson wrote to the French artist Maria Cosway, he said this: "I am but a son of nature, loving what I see and feel, without being able to give a reason nor caring whether there even by one."
The brilliance and legacy of Thomas Jefferson will remain secure as long as the splendor and radiance of the Jefferson Memorial stands...as long as there is a United States of America.