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12.05.2004
Morals and values are sticky things to write about. Complicating matters is the vague way in which we all define those terms. Generally we all seem to agree that "the things I do are moral" and "the things you do are immoral". We follow the same pattern to determine whether we are good parents or not. I am, you're not. Some of us see morality as a being nice to people, not talking behind their backs and being polite when we would much rather bang someone over the head with a cast iron skillet. Some of us see morality as being a complete and total asshole to everyone around us for all but one hour on Sunday where we act like a saint. To which I say, if we are having a morals revolution of the first variety, hurrah, but if we are having a morals revolution of the second variety, then poooooh! I have sophisticated ways of expressing my opinions. The crazy part about defining this latest election as one about "values" is that people will see it as an endorsement of "their values". Witness an example: Samual Francis, referring to the add wherein Nicollete Sheridan seduces Terrell Owens for a promo for "Desperate Housewives" that ran before a Monday Night Football game. ABC Sports last week took careful aim at the “moral issues” that are said to have driven this month’s national election and delivered a good swift kick to their dentures on national television. Translation; "People voted on 'values' in this election" Breaking down the sexual barriers between the races is a major weapon of cultural destruction because it means the dissolution of the cultural boundaries that define breeding and the family and, ultimately, the transmission and survival of the culture itself. Oops, I seriously doubt that most people who went to the polls last November to vote for values seriously think that the destruction of our culture is due to white people and black people having sex. But yahoos like Sam Francis seem to think so. He seems perfectly willing to accept this year's election results as a mandate to spread his white superiority. After all, what could be more immoral than promoting the very idea that people should have the right to choose their own sexual partners? But the ad’s message also was that interracial sex is normal and legitimate, a fairly radical concept for both the dominant media as well as its audience. After all, it wasn't too long ago that some stupid white people thought that the Bible gave them the right to whip black people and make them work for free. People would swear up and down that they were moral and righteous people while they did this, because well, they went to church and prayed with their eyes pressed tight shut. We look back on this now and think "silly people, slavery is immoral, why couldn't they see this?" Well, mostly because they were blinded by their own moral superiority to notice that what they were doing was wrong. We do it today as well. Today's churches are not all that different from yesterday's churches. Most pander to whatever the current cultural standards are. They rarely take a revolutionary view of culture, to fight for change based on any moral principles. Jesus was the first Christian to take a real stand against on issues and he got hung up for taking on the powerful. Since then they have been careful not to make that same mistake. These days it seems like too many church leaders are too busy sucking up to the powerful and their money to ask people to do what is right. Some people seem to take offense that I would suggest that the fight to end discrimination against black people bears any resemblance to the fight to end discrimination against gay people. But it does. All the way down from the same biblical arguments, the same cultural arguments and the same moral arguments. What I do is moral, what you do is screwed up. Sounds familiar? as seen on eschaton. |
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