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June 08, 2005
"An Unhealthy Certainty"
Via Logical Meme I found this unsurprisingly irresistible article on moral relativism by Charles Krauthammer:
The Op-Ed pages are filled with jeremiads about believers--principally evangelical Christians and traditional Catholics--bent on turning the U.S. into a theocracy. Now I am not much of a believer, but there is something deeply wrong--indeed, deeply un-American--about fearing people simply because they believe. It seems perfectly O.K. for secularists to impose their secular views on America, such as, say, legalized abortion or gay marriage. But when someone takes the contrary view, all of a sudden he is trying to impose his view on you. And if that contrary view happens to be rooted in Scripture or some kind of religious belief system, the very public advocacy of that view becomes a violation of the U.S. constitutional order. [...]
Instead of arguing the merits of any issue, secularists are trying to win the argument by default on the grounds that the other side displays unhealthy certainty or, even worse, unseemly religiosity.
I wrote a couple days ago about Richard Thompson's incredible CD 1000 Years of Popular Music, in which he performs songs ranging from paeans to King Henry V to songs by Prince. He also springs a surprise: a cover of pop queen Britney Spears' hit "Oops, I Did It Again". My wife (who has a very sophisticated pop sense--Beatles, Costello, Kate Bush, Tori Amos, etc.)--was charmed by the shift in context: Thompson is about as far from Britney as is possible. And my six year old son loves the catchy melody.
But I despise the tune--as I told my wife, "It's a catchy, bouncy celebration of chickenshitedness." The song is really a pop culture ode to moral relativism. There is no consideration of the other person's feelings; an abject admission that the singer is shallow; and it portryas a general breezy disinterest in anything other than the singer's immediate selfish desires.
As I pounded out the miles on my bike today, I had imaginary conversations with some of my liberal friends about this subject. They would probably think I am overreacting to a pop song: "Why are you being so judgmental?" My reply would be to ask, "What do you think of Ken Lay?" Plenty of strong judgement there. And of course this returns to Krauthammer's point that the left loves relativism when it's employed by themselves. It's fine to condemn the Enron henchmen (as indeed they should be) and Gitmo guards who may or may not have mishandled a Koran; but in our day to day lives "everyone is has their own truth, you know?". Sorry, don't think so.
I recall the great golfer Bobby Jones, who once called a penalty on himself during a tournament. No one was near him when the infraction occurred, but nonetheless he docked himself the penalty stroke. When quizzed by an amazed press corps about his altruistic behavior, he replied, "You might as well thank a man for not robbing a bank."
I wonder what's happened to that kind of behavior?
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Comments
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Posted by: American at June 9, 2005 08:11 AM
The song doesn't "celebrate relativism"; you simply disagree with the ethics it evinces (namely, an egoist ethic).
Posted by: jpe at June 10, 2005 03:57 PM
Krautty's piece is the product of lazy thinking. He's trying to pull a David Brooks: take a problem; utilize the shallowest, most reductivist analysis; and then divide the citizenry into camps based on where they stand on the non-issue the author has created.
The issue isn't conviction; it's the role of ethics in politics. For example, I really think lying is wrong. However, it doesn't seem as though there should be a law banning it. If someone wants to be a jerk and lie, that's his decision. This latter judgment has nothing to do with the depth of my conviction - rather, it acknowledges that ethics and politics are different spheres.
Posted by: jpe at June 10, 2005 04:04 PM
Regarding Britney and "Oops": OK. On a close reading of the lyrics, I'll grant your point. But the person portrayed in the song is also quite likely to make as his next pronouncement, "And everyone is entitled to their own truth, man." To use "Krautty's" words, what nonsense.
Posted by: Jeff at June 10, 2005 09:10 PM
I just got around to this post ... been really busy and sick ... but wanted you to know it is a good call.
And no offense to jpe but everywhere is see his trail I see someone who revels in creating a pseudo moral high ground and defending it with snobbish haughtiness. My opinion ... you certainly can defend yourself.
I've clipped your post ... may link to it in one of my own on theo-phobiacs.
Posted by: John at June 18, 2005 06:35 PM
