Adultery is adultery in EVERY CULTURE, and a major reason for divorce and acrimony. It destroys trust, devastates families, and inflicts grave emotional wounds on the betrayed. It is a cop-out to portray adultery as a misstep, or a momentary lapse. It is an indicator of an elemental character flaw, of something vital that is missing or twisted. But then again. the ability to appreciate genuine love, outside the carnal or the 'adolescent high,' is rare, and silly shallow folk will forever entertain the notion that "the forbidden" or the "secret" is the real. Silly, stupid housewives in SouCA being the prototypes….. they should be "beware of dragons….". Seriously.

Maybe the Butterheads are launching an offensive. Just toooooo confusing.

Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are…..

Thanks for keeping this subject 'on topic'. I'm finding all this name calling interesting. As you point out, there are many other cultures that define relationships in other ways. I lived in Europe for many years…and relationships look very different than in the U.S. Not saying one culture has it right over any other, mind you. That's not for me to judge.

Problems ensue, as you put so well, when there are secrets in a relationship.

We have a strange way of jumping to conclusions before we have all the facts. American media does this all too often..but then and again, they wouldn't if we didn't relish hearing about it so much.

We're willing to believe anything anyone puts on paper or sends through the airwaves, it seems. They used to call this "Yellow Journalism".