Heh, that's two threads in a row claiming a fight at a basketball game is a sign of the decline of Western civilization. Schtuupit. More importantly, I missed the towel misfunction. Damn.
Attack on decency
Walter E. Williams (archive)
Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction," Nicollette Sheridan's towel malfunction and naked leap into the arms of Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver Terrell Owens in a promotion before ABC's "Monday Night Football," and the recent Detroit Pistons/Indiana Pacers game melee are just the most recent signs of a new culture that has emerged among Americans, and it's just the tip of the iceberg.
Years ago, the lowest of lowdown men wouldn't use the kind of language that's routinely used today not only in the presence of women but often to women. To see men sitting while a woman was standing on a public conveyance used to be unthinkable. Children addressing adults by their first name was also unthinkable, not to mention the use of foul language in the presence of or to adults. How about guys and girls walking down the street whilst the guy has his hand in the girl's rear pocket?
What might explain the differences in behavior today versus yesteryear? A significant part of the explanation is seen by recognizing that society's first line of defense is not the law but customs, traditions and moral values. Customs, traditions and moral values are those important thou-shalt-nots such as: thou shalt not murder, shalt not steal, shalt not lie and cheat. They also include respect for parents, teachers and others in authority plus those courtesies one might read in Emily Post's rules of etiquette.
The importance of customs, traditions and moral values as a means of regulating behavior is that people behave themselves even if nobody's watching. There are not enough cops, and laws can never replace these restraints on personal conduct so as to produce a civilized society. At best, the police and the criminal justice system are the last desperate lines of defense for a civilized society. Unfortunately, too many of us see police, laws, and the criminal and civil justice systems as society's first line of defense.
For nearly a half-century, the nation's liberals, along with the education establishment, pseudo-intellectuals and the courts, have waged war on traditions, customs and moral values. Many in this generation have been counseled to believe that there are no moral absolutes. Instead, what's moral or immoral is a matter of convenience, personal opinion, or what is or is not criminal.
During the 1960s, the education establishment launched its agenda to undermine lessons children learned from their parents and the church with fads like "values clarification." So-called sex-education classes were simply indoctrination that sought to undermine family/church strictures against premarital sex. Lessons of abstinence were ridiculed, considered passe, and replaced with lessons about condoms, birth control pills and abortion. Further undermining of parental authority came with legal and extra-legal measures to assist teenage abortions with neither parental knowledge nor consent.
Customs, traditions, moral values and rules of etiquette, not laws and government regulations, are what make for a civilized society. These behavioral norms, mostly transmitted by example, word of mouth, and religious teachings, represent a body of wisdom distilled through ages of experience, trial and error, and looking at what works and what doesn't.
Customs, traditions and moral values have been discarded without an appreciation for the role they played in creating a civilized society, and now, we're paying the price. What's worse is that instead of a return to what worked, many of us fail to make the connection and insist "there ought to be a law." As such, it points to another failure of the so-called "great generation" -- the failure to transmit to their children what their parents transmitted to them.
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Heh, that's two threads in a row claiming a fight at a basketball game is a sign of the decline of Western civilization. Schtuupit. More importantly, I missed the towel misfunction. Damn.
I agree with the article - wholeheartedly!
edited to correct spelling
<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ December 01, 2004 08:20 AM: Message edited by: Sluggo ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">After reading trav's article you'd think brawls at sporting events are something new. I can't remember where I saw it, but I think it was MSN.com that listed the top sporting brawls of all time. This is not a new phenomena. As a matter of fact the oldest on the list was an incident in the late 1800's...involving our beloved Cincinnati Reds.Originally posted by LanDroid:
Heh, that's two threads in a row claiming a fight at a basketball game is a sign of the decline of Western civilization. Schtuupit. More importantly, I missed the towel misfunction. Damn.
I sometimes wonder if there really ever was an age of innocence, a time of "better" moral values.
150 years ago, God-fearing Christians had slaves and treated other human beings as property. (Andrew Jackson was actually an indentured servant as a child - Paul Harvey told me the rest of the story). Woman were subservient to men and had limited property rights and no right to vote.
40 years ago, Roman Catholic priests could chain molest boys without fear of punishment.
Today, we have our own kind of moral degeneration, but I wonder if it's really any different than the past.
We get so hung up on morals. Today, it's all about marriage. Was it really that way in the past? I don't think so. Benjamin Franklin never got married, even though he lived with the same woman forever. Not to mention that women to a great extent married a man for security, as she had few rights of her own.
I've often felt those who carry on the moral crusade are most susceptible to moral scrutiny themselves.
<font color="#a52a2a" size="1">[ December 01, 2004 09:26 AM: Message edited by: reason ]</font>
I say "scrutinize & be damned". I'd welcome any scrutiny you want.
On any given weekday afternoon you can see scenes played out on any soap opera that are pretty much the same as the one from the Monday Night Football opening. We are also bombarded by ads for erectile disfunction and feminie hygene products on a regular basis theses days. Victorias secret ads and other bra, panty and underwear ads of all kinds...
Yet, everyone gets all pissy over a towell coming of that showed nothing and a woman jumping into a mans arms.
Whoopdeefrickindoo!
To be honest, I'm more offended by NYPD Blue showing Dennis Franz Butt! The Super Bowl thing was dumb, it was something that shouldnt have happened, but it wasnt like she tore all her clothes off. There's more sexual stuff going on in half of the music videos on today. The fight at the basketball game was insanely stupid. Should have never happened. Fans shouldnt be throwing things at players, plyers shouldnt be going into the stands. But then again, we as a populace will fork over $50 to watch a night of boxing on pay per veiw.
Society's moral downfall isnt due to any of these incidents, but I do beleive that parents should monitor what their kids see on tv. With that said, no I dont think kids should stop watching hoops. That was an indiviual incident. No, I dont think kids should stop watching football. And I certainly would never tell anyone to not watch the Super Bowl.
Basing all of society's woes on individual incidents like these is dumb. Dont let one bad apple destroy the whole bunch. Except for the monday night thing, all these incidents were spur of the moment things that were seemingly unplanned and the veiwer could not have expected it to happen.
Society's apparent decaying of morals is based on tolerance. As our tolerance for pushing the envelope in all areas grows, so must the advancement of how far those who push can actually go with things.
I dont think you can blame moral decay on some indivisual incidents, though you can (I guess) use those incidents as examples of what you dont want to happen anymore.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have long considered you nothing more than a simmering cauldron of sin and decadence.Originally posted by Sluggo:
I say "scrutinize & be damned". I'd welcome any scrutiny you want.
I know not where to begin.
Greg,
The incidents in the articles, as well as the ones you posted are not the cause of the degradation of society, but the result.
When you take societal morals and beliefs away, society turns to shit. Today it is happening to the Judaeo/Christian foundation in this country and in Europe.
It happened to the Romans, Greeks, Egyptian and all other great civilization in history.
I am sure Christians will disagree with me, but it's not who society has faith in as long as that faith teaches and enforces good moral character.
Since the birth of Modern liberalism, Western Civilization has been crumbling from within.
Have you read Dune by Frank Herbert? My only hope is that the Muslim extremist never find their Maudib.
Reason - I recognize sarcasm! I think that was sarcasm in your last post.
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