Moral Values

The “virtue” that I prize most is honesty. I may do and say many things, but I will not lie. Anyone who knows me knows this and it is not without its problems. But this was instilled in me at an early age. Your word is your bond, it is who you are, etc. We were taught that all men are created in God’s image and race is superficial. But other values, such as standing up for social injustice, was not really instilled in us beyond “do the right thing”. Justice was not instilled as a value.

In White Guilt, Shelby Steele compares the moral “sins” of Clinton and Eisenhower to illustrate a point. A journalist noted that Eisenhower occasionally used a racial slur on the golf course (this was unsubstantiated but going with the assumption it was accurate). While inappropriate this was not considered morally disqualifying for the Presidency. Clinton was caught in sexual immorality. While this was considered inappropriate it was at the same time considered a personal issue and not morally disqualifying for the Presidency.

But had the transgressions been reversed, had Eisenhower been caught in the same situation as Clinton, and Clinton in the same situation as Eisenhower, both would have been removed from office. Racial immorality was considered acceptable in the 50’s while sexual immorality was not. The inverse is true today.

I think what bothers me the most about todays culture is it is dishonest to the core. There is a focus on issues that should have been at the forefront decades ago and this is a good thing. But there seems to be a trend to lie about things to support agendas (on all sides in public life). For example, George Floyd was unjustly killed (at a minimum by not giving him the help he needed). But our nation creates a false story about his life and honors the man himself (a career violent criminal who did shortly after committing a crime while high on drugs).

I wonder what other values have shifted over the decades – what values have moved into the realm of inconsequential and what values have moved into the forefront of public life.

 

It just seems over and over again that an injustice is pointed out and then exploited as a pawn for some sort of political gain (whether it is secular or racial politics).

What we have seen with George Floyd was wrong. People should protest police brutality and the misuse of power. People should protest racial injustices. People should stand against social injustices inflicted on people from conception to the grave.

But to uplift a career criminal who was high on drugs and committing a crime as some type of saint because he was unjustly killed in the process is beyond acceptance.

I guess I just do not understand the mindset. It seems that people willingly believe the lies because it suits their agenda. But I think at some level they know what they are saying is not true. They have to. They read the medical reports to see that the man was unjustly killed. But the same reports say he was high on drugs. They see the videos of a baggie being dropped because they use the video as evidence that he was not being violent. They read the transcript of the 911 call stating Mr. Floyd was trying to pass a counterfeit bill, but ignore the parts of the transcript saying he was out of his mind.

I do not understand how our culture has become so dishonest. I've seen this in news reports (both on Fox and CNN) in how they report issues. And I see it in the daily lives of people.