Moral Failure
The enlightened morality North American society has striven for since the 1960's has failed.
We moved away from a "paternalistic," authoritarian morality and gave up thinking there's one right way to live in favor of thinking many ways are equally right. We learned not to be judgmental and to be more accepting of what others do contrary to our interests and expectations.
We came to think what's needed to make society work is more tolerance and less dependence on strict rules. We became concerned, if not obsessed with rights, and downplayed the responsibilities they entail.
Now we don't dare make moral judgments for fear of offending and showing ourselves to be insensitive or bigots. After all, moral judgments are criticism of others, and we can't have that! We don't dare slap wrists, much less cast the first stone.
As a result of moral disapproval losing its force, we've put more weight on legislation to make society function. But without moral authority behind them, criminal and civil laws are just so many hurdles for lawyers to jump. And without moral authority, application of laws has been moderated in all sorts of ways: we take being from a different culture or being abused as a child or being a member of a visible minority or growing up underprivileged as mitigating what people do when they break the law. Penalties are evermore lighter because of concern with "fairness." And because of the glutted legal system, too many cases are pled out. We also give so much weight to the rights of the accused and possible police bias or brutality that we invite law-suits with every arrest.
None of this has worked. It's a sad truth that tolerance is inevitably abused; our "enlightened" morality has led many to take advantage of the new leniency. Worse, we've lent a kind of legitimacy to immoral behavior--behavior that hurts people--by always factoring in the perspective of "the other." Still worse is that our concern with the rights and motives of those who act immorally makes us forget those they hurt. And worst is we forget that how we treat those who act immorally today greatly affects how others will act tomorrow. We're now competing with societies and cultures based on strong moral codes. It's not a competition we're likely to win.
Thanks to Lawrie McFarlane for prompting me to write this article.
