As debate heats up over “New York values,” a New York entrepreneur is providing a way for men to masturbate in public as a way to reduce stress and leave more focused on their work. Adam Lewis and his “award-winning sex toy brand Hot Octopuss” are introducing “the world’s first ‘GuyFi’ male stress relief booth in Manhattan,” according to a press release. The “booth” appears to be an old telephone kiosk with a chair, a curtain, and an Internet connection. The press release explains further: “According to Time Out, a remarkable 39% of New Yorkers ‘self-soothe’ in the workplace to alleviate stress. Hot Octopuss has created the GuyFi booth to take this habit out of the office and into a more suitable environment designed to give the busy Manhattan man the privacy, and the high-speed Internet connection, he deserves.”…. Lewis adds: “At Hot Octopuss we are all about looking for new solutions to improve everyday life and we feel we’ve done just that with the new GuyFi booth…. It is not clear whether anyone is actually using the booths. Temperatures are below freezing this week.
Like many Americans, I’ve found myself wondering exactly what “New York values” means (besides a reference cloaked in racism and anti-Semitism). I realize that not many are taking Ted Cruz’ insult of America’s most populous city seriously. Indeed, it’s been the stuff of late-night jokes and generalized ridicule. Consider the source, after all; Cruz isn’t exactly the poster boy for civility and tolerance.
Even as the hubbub began to subside, it was rather amusing to find Breitbart, that bastion of journalistic objectivity, ramping up Conservative outrage…because it’s what Breitbart does. Once upon a time, I had a minor Twitter contretemps with founder Andrew Breitbart a few months before his death. His reaction to what I had to say was typical of the editorial slant of his “news” site that’s continued unabated in the years after his passing: smug, arrogant, and toroughly dismissive of those who happen to think differently.
Not surprisingly for a “news” site predicated on arrogance and intolerance, fact-checking can often leave much to be desired.
You’ve probably heard about the publicity stunt pulled over the weekend by a porn company, which claimed to have created a public masturbation station in a Manhattan phone booth. Most sites that reported on the story did so winkingly, noting that the company’s press release included a footnote disclaimer that public masturbation is illegal. But not Breitbart, who of course jumped on the “New York values” outrage train.
The comments on Breitbart’s story alone are worth the price of admission (#SIGN OF DOUCHE BAG A$$HAT!STFU YOU RETARD.) Lest anyone delude themselves into thinking that Breitbart’s role is to foster reasoned, rational discussion…yeah, it’s an echo chamber for flaming right-wingers and all manner of unpleasantness and douchery.
The fact-checking department at Breitbart appears to be on permanent hiatus. Anyone with an ounce of journalistic common sense (and integrity) would have checked and discovered quickly that the “public masturbation booth” was a gag created as a publicity stunt by a porn company.
Then again, I suppose we should be brateful to Breitbart for demonstrating once again that the Right-wing media is nothing if not a comedy gold mine.
