So I was thinking a lot about prostitution this weekend.
Not for no reason, of course. Sunday and Monday I was chasing a pretty big story at my newspaper: The most famous high school football coach in town was arrested Saturday night for trying to solicit a hooker. He was caught as part of an undercover sting operation by the local police.
I got to thinking a little bit about the whole way we criminalize prostitution in this country. I’ve never been entirely comfortable seeing this as a black and white issue. Prostitution is a victimless crime, legalization proponents say. It’s one person and another person coming to a mutual agreement to have sex, and one person pays the other for it.
Why is this illegal? Of course, there’s the other side, which says that making women sell their bodies for sex, while a pimp profits, is downright wrong.
I don’t know, I’m a pretty liberal guy. I happen to think prostitution isn’t the biggest priority for our police forces right now. I think laws should be looked at and loosened. But I’m open to arguments, as always.
**It took me a while to finally listen to everyone I knew who told me to watch “The Wire.” When I finally did start watching the greatest show ever on television, I kicked myself for waiting this long.
That’s probably how I’m going to feel about “Friday Night Lights.” Many people, from different areas of my life, have been telling me for years how good the show is.
The book was incredible, and the movie was pretty good. So I had no interest in the TV show when it first came out.
I watched one episode the first season, and there was a scene where a kid threw like an 80-yard pass in the air. That was all I needed to see.
But since it’s been so universally beloved for so long, I figured it’s time. ABC Family is re-running the whole series, from the beginning, starting today at 6 p.m. So I’ll be DVR’ing and watching for as long as the show interests me, probably posting periodic blogs about it.
All the hype can’t be wrong, right?
