Friday, August 10, 2007

Oscar Corral: Rescuer of Lost Souls


19th-century British prime minister, William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), whom Queen Victoria hated, well, because he was too Victorian, was in the habit of going out late at night to "rescue fallen women." There is no evidence that he laid a finger on any of them. There is no record that he ever laid a finger on any woman. His contact with them was limited to rescuing them, and then going home, alone, and masturbating, which events he noted in his Diaries with an "X."

Nor was Lord Gladstone the only Victorian to engage in such "works of reclamation." General Charles Gordon (1833-1886) would prowl the streets at night looking for waifs and take them home with him, bathe them personally — remember, the Victorians invented the Biblical quote "Cleanliness is next to godliness" — give them new clothes in the morning and send them off to become Horatio Alger success stories. As a matter of fact, the Rev. Horatio Alger (1832-1899) also did the same thing in America. The Victorians were great humanitarians and also great experts at having their cake and eating it too. If Freud had never been born, mankind would still hail their "good works."

Since, obviously, The Miami Herald editors are not going to cover Corral's ass by claiming that he was doing an investigative report for them into prostitution in the area, his only other option is to claim that he was on a humanitarian mission there, following Gladstone's footsteps in his Acura, assisting a "fallen woman" (or, in his case, a teenager) with a donation of $50.00 to buy food and lodgings for the night, so that he could pray into the wee hours for her redemption while the fallen woman related to him the story of her corruption. There is even a Victorian word for that: "unbosoming" yourself.

In case the story sounds familiar to you, there is a modern precedent: this is what televangelist the Rev. Jimmy Swaggert claimed 20 years ago he did with prostitutes, too. He kind of got away with it; anyways, his ministry, much reduced, is still around. Maybe that will be Oscar Corral's fate, too — to stick around, but as a reporter for a weekly shopper.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gladstone? I love it. I had forgotten that, but the parallel is there for Corral's taking.

Anonymous said...

Oscar is such a Victorian name. It brings Oscar Wilde to my mind. Wild Oscar, Oscar Wilde.

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

Charlie:

Yes, of course, Oscar Wilde. He "saved" telegraph boys with cigarette cases.

Anonymous said...

One just wishes Wild Oscar becomes such an accomplished writer as was Oscar Wilde. A wild wish, indeed.

Fantomas said...

So you allow anonimi now...

FINALLY ....

WATCH IT GROW

EL QUE NO TE GUSTE ...ELIMINALO

VERY EASY

bookster said...

Manuel

Do you enjoy flogging a dead horse?

And in your christian faith what happen to the idea of not judging others?

I wonder how your enemies are going to treat you the day you fall from your moral high ground.

Fantomas said...

Vana dijo...
Tomas:
I used to have Skype, I deleted it because I was getting calls all day long, never from Cuba, if I had I wouldn't have deleted it, but no, mostly they were from people in the Middle East, they were driving me crazy! guess I'll have to install it again, thanks

Vana ... that is no longer a problem... you dont answer to those calls...I think you can set up the account in a way you can only accept calls from your contacts..

hopefully this will help you

have a great day

Anonymous said...

A kiner , gentler , Fantomas responded to Vana

lets see what she does

Anonymous said...

sorry Kinder

Manuel A.Tellechea said...

"I wonder how your enemies are going to treat you the day you fall from your moral high ground?"corgiguy

Exactly as they treat me now.

And exactly what is wrong with morality? Should we condone immorality to show that we are good Christians? What Bible have you been reading?

I don't have to "forgive" Oscar Corral because he has not done anything me. His wife, children and parents need to forgive him. The teenage girl that he contracted for sex needs to forgive him (and all the others that came before her). Even his employer needs to forgive him for the discredit this "company man" has brought on his company (although it really boggles the mind that anyone could discredit The Miami Herald).

You may forgive him yourself if you feel he has betrayed your expectations. I don't.

Vana said...

Manuel:
I love it when you give us these history lessons, prostitution and pedophilia has been around for centuries, remember the movie: The Pertrait Of Dorian Gray, great movie by the way, that is what he used to do at nights, guess they took it from real life

Vana said...

ooops meant portrait

Vana said...

Fanto
That was posted on Tomas blog, you should have answered me there! thank you, I guess