Timothy Birdnow

In a thoughtful and philosophical essay at American Thinker Dean Abbott argues that the sexual misconduct scandal is a result of the loss of virtue that has ended with the concept of Careers becoming paramount. He's right, but I think there is more to the story.

First the argument made by Abbott:

"The worst, and therefore most likely, outcome of the current rash of sexual misconduct accusations is that people will continue to think they are primarily about bodies, about who touched whose body, about who exposed his body when he shouldn't have. That most of us currently already assume that such incidents are mostly about bodies itself indicates our lack of vision."

[...] "The disease afflicting our souls is liberalism, by which I mean not so much the policy positions of the Democrats, but all those cultural movements that have, in the modern era, conspired to liberate men and women from the strictures and formative influences of family, religion, tradition, and community."

End excerpt.

Amen to that! Abbott is right; this is not about a physical act so much as a spiritual and moral inadequacy. Those inadequacies were promulgated and promoted by the generation that now leads the charge in this sexual misconduct hunt, after having pushed the notion of free, unfettered sexual activity.

Strange.

Abbott continues:

"The excesses of human misbehavior, we were told, could be curbed, if not eradicated, by a combination of education and legislation."

End excerpt.

What must be understood about the Left is they are opportunistic, and a thing is never about what it appears on the surface with them. This last observation of Abbott’s is very shrewd because it identifies the purpose of sexual harassment laws and education; to remake the thinking of the country and to impose the will of the liberals over the bulk of society. Having dismantled the traditional safeguards the liberals now offer a solution, which further erodes the safeguards they sought to destroy.

This is all about other things, primarily empowering the intelligentsia at the expense of individuals and traditional groups and especially over religion. In fact there are some now blaming Christianity for this and we will hear more of that as this movement progresses - even though Christinity has pushed traditional moral codes that say sex outside of marriage is unacceptable. It doesn't matter; the Left finds ways to blame others for their own excesses and they hate the Christian faith to a point that they will tar Christians with sexual harassment.

More from Abbott:

"What every human being knows, save members of Congress, corporate executives, and a few other comedians, apparently, is that human beings misbehave not because we lack knowledge, but because we lack love.

Because we lack love as individuals, the best of us once sought to build a culture that would encourage its development in the form of virtue. It is precisely from the moral influence of that culture that we have been liberated. Instead of virtue, we now have "careers."

In all of the allegations so far, the notion of "career" as the ultimate source of meaning has been implicit. Consider Gwyneth Paltrow's allegations against Harvey Weinstein. She did not come forward earlier, she said, because she feared that doing so would have hurt her career prospects. For the sake of her career, she suffered whatever degradations Weinstein managed to inflict on her, and she allowed him and others in the industry to inflict even worse on other young women. The idea underlying so many of these claims is that standing up to louche behavior puts at risk careers, and that careers are far too valuable to risk merely for the sake of doing the right thing"

End excerpt.

Indeed, indeed. The fundamental problem of humanity is a lack of love, and a lack of gratitude. Because so long ago our original parents chose self-aggrandizement over love of God or each other we now promote our own aggrandizement rather than love one another, and that is the root of our problem.

Here is where I start to depart from Abbott in that he believes the problem is people are choosing their careers over doing what is right, and that is what the culture of liberalism has wrought. True, but it's not the whole story.

See, what people are looking for is what Satan sought when he rebelled against God. Satan sought to magnify himself over the Most High. His desire for aggrandizement was born of pride, which itself was born of ingratitude to God for giving him everything he should have wanted. Adam and Eve were suckered by that same fallen angel who made the same argument to them, offering them a way to aggrandize themselves over God as well.

And that is precisely what this "careers" business is all about. Modern America is absolutely stinking of this, this desire to promote individual godhead. Look at social networking, for example; the young, in particularly, seek fame for fame's sake and are absolutely horrified if someone tells them they shouldn't spend so much time online. That is because they no longer find meaning in their lives through morality. Time was loving family and country and God was the source of satisfaction for many but no more. Liberals have stripped all of these away from us, turning the minds of Americans against their country, their faith, their family and tradition. All that is left is the self, and that can only be supported by the good opinion of others. Fame has become the primary motivation of most people in this country.

But all glory is fleeting. Remember thou art mortal, the triumphal general was told at the height of his glory. The public is fickle, and the hero today may be forgotten tomorrow. Just look at the child stars who now are a joke, desperately clinging to their former fame. We see them as pathetic, yet how much more pathetic are the lives of the Millennial generation clinging desperately to the hope of internet fame via Facebook or some other social media.

A number of years ago I wrote an article for American Thinker (that wound up in a textbook discussing the issue of cyberbullying) in which I suggested that young people being bullied online simply turn the computer off. I understand the issue, too, as I have been called every name in the book by liberals over the years and now take it as a badge of honor, although it is painful when you first encounter it. I was amazed at the response from young people, who were simply astounded at the idea they turn the computer off; their entire sense of self-worth was intimately intertwined with their status online.

These weren't bad kids but they were lost. Not having the things that older generations had to provide them a sense of purpose in life, these kids were completely at the mercy of the approval of jackals online, people they didn't know or barely knew. Everyone fudged their lives, too, so they believe they are somehow missing out on life. The end result is a hungry, empty soul - one ready to be filled by other, more sinister, things. It's why I believe so many young people shoot up schools or whatnot; it's a chance at fame, which is all that matters to this generation.

I think Mr. Abbott's discussion about careers is important for this same reason; modern people think careers are a source of status, which in turn is a source of meaning in their lives and possible route to immortality. Where earlier generations found their immortality in their families and their religious faith we now seek it in careers or, with careers increasingly out of reach for many, in social networking sites. They

I think careers are the Baby Boom generation substitute. The Millenials have internet fame. But the disease is the same, a desperation for meaning in life and a hope for something to set them apart, to make them special.

In short, we are returning to the Original Sin. Eve sinned to exalt herself and made Adam to likewise (who wanted to or he wouldn't have done it.) They believed that they could be their own gods, make themselves great without the inconvenience of obedience to their Creator. This Sin started it all off, and continues to this day. But it has never worked, never given joy or peace or a sense of worth. Oh, it has fleeting pleasure, but in the end it makes one even more unhappy. Chasing glory and fame is like chasing the wind; you never catch it, and if you do you can't hold it for long. At best you have a breeze move your sailboat for a brief moment.

So this sexual misconduct business is the newest of new things designed to fix something that cannot be fixed with laws or speech codes or whatnot. In the end it is taking an aspirin for a cut throat.

In the end what we are seeing here is a case of the human condition being stripped naked so we can see the fruits of Original Sin. Yes, lust and greed and power are all a part of this, but it ultimately goes back to a culture that has taken away everything that was designed to act as a hedge to the core spiritual problem of Man. Now we are seeing the nudity that led Adam and Eve to hide from God in the Garden. They were right to hide; it was ugly and still is.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 12:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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