Editorial: Celebrates aren’t crazy we are

After some long soul searching and deep meditation I have come to the conclusion that society is screwed. Well I already knew that but it kind of reinforced things for me recently. And the number one culprit might shock you, I really hope you are sitting down or at least reading this awkwardly at a desk or something… ok are you ready, the evil doer that has bankrupted our culture is morality. The problem with morality isn’t something as simple as Good vs Evil, morality is forever moving, it is a fluid beast on to itself. We pick and choose what to be outraged over, but even being outraged about something you feel passionately about is fine, the problem raises its ugly head because there is no consistency. We have no tent poles to say ok here is the line we shalt not cross, here is the level to achieve and hence forth so it shall be. Some people use the bible to set standards (not all of it of course just the parts they like) while others choose the Koran (not all of it of course just the parts they like), some people pray to the ancients and others still pray to money… and so forth and so on. We come across this problem of habitual line crossers all the time in things like healthcare debates that save children’s lives but may hurt investments and dirty words like abortion. Some people think women are going to hell for getting an abortion because you are killing a human life, and on the other hand some people think you are saving a life by killing a doctor which will some how balance things out. Some people feel we should outlaw abortions and toss the doctors of death in jail, but after the baby comes out and they have no food to eat at school and aren’t learning anything because you cut all the social programs so that you can give a tax break to a few billionaires and is no longer your concern… well you get my drift. Morality has decided this debate for us and there is nothing we can do about it. Think about it like this, what if there are 5 billion people all reading a compass & map trying to get somewhere, while north is pointing to 60 different places depending where you were born, how much money you make, what religion you pray to, and most of all how you randomly feel on any given day.

I was reading a tech blog about video games the other day and I came across an article about Michael Vick possibly being chosen for the cover of this year’s game due to his outstanding play on the field and turning his life around off it. That wasn’t what caught my eye the blog was titled “Admitted dogfighter” is a candidate for game cover. And of course the comments underneath were the usual disgusting vile things said when his name comes up nowadays. Your morality tells you that dog fighting is evil and anybody involved must be killed too but isn’t that as vile and evil as the original act in the first place. Or maybe we should punish him by not letting him play a game he loves that long term will utterly destroy his body from concussions and other insane injuries that come along with entertaining folks drinking a beer sitting on a lazy boy. The joke about this is that I don’t even have to defend Michael Vick as a human being to punch holes in everybody’s continued outrage over this controversy. Vick did some terrible things but he is no more a sociopath than hunters or people who eat chicken for dinner, but I know what you are going to say Vick killed puppies think of the message this sends to kids. Surely humiliating him, throwing him in jail, and taking all his money isn’t nearly enough of a punishment, while convicted spousal abusers and actual (I’m not making this up) drunk driving killers are still allowed to play, so says the guy who shoots Bambi to relax after a long week at the office and then mounts it on his wall to remind his kids Thumper the rabbit can get it too.

See the problem people pick and choose the line they are willing to cross in the fight to show their moral superiority by injecting their own personal experience and projecting it on to the subject at hand. I know that was a mouthful but sound it out. After a rash of dogs mauling and killing children and a women one summer not too long ago local municipal legislators drafted laws to euthanized all pitbulls and ban other vicious type A dogs. The most delicious part about that is many of the people who would spit on Vick today all thought this was the best news ever after the death of a little girl, they even went on TV saying how they aren’t “real” dogs and need to be put down for the safety of everybody in the community… apparently the line to cross using simple logic is gambling not so much the murder stuff. The point I am trying to make is that when you inject your own personal experience into an argument you throw your own morality under the bus on a whim.

People enjoy action packed spy shows like 24 were Jack Bauer routinely impinges on people’s rights, freedoms, and liberties all in the name of safety. Years ago Jack would be a pariah rotting in a jail somewhere after the judge threw the book at him today he is a hero and people wish he would shoot more women in the kneecaps to get vital information so that the evil doers don’t win. Really? Is that what we have all settled on as an acceptable level for our morality line to stop at? If your argument is that Jack Bauer is not real he is a fictional character, tell that to the all private military dudes right now in the Middle East. The idea of public security and safety are always at odds with each other and for many of us myself included we often look the other way when it is convenient. The slow grinding of “justice” in our society has whittled down our morals to the nub of “fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here” and other ridiculous catch phrases. I know it and you know it, we have become so numb to war that the idea of military action in another country doesn’t even pre-empt Dancing with the Stars anymore. Somebody somewhere should be slightly concerned not just the people with tinfoil on their head worried about birth certificates.

I would be lying if I said that it doesn’t concern me that our country is so ridged on its own convenient morality, but is also in such a hurry to toss other morals at the slightest discomfort to ourselves and our way of life. And that my friends is the rub, it doesn’t matter how civilized we are as a society and how much we look down at other countries for their customs and beliefs, we haven’t even mastered the nuances to our own standards. The thing that makes morals so difficult to comprehend is that the concept of what is right and what is wrong can only be grasped by the loudest of offenders only after it happens to them. People only seem to care about healthcare and the burden on families when it happens to their family. People only care about social security when their parents or they don’t have any. People hate war until it happens in their own backyard and then and only then do they get serious about foreign policy. And people want the government out of their lives unless it is something they feel strongly about and then the government can’t strip your freedoms fast enough. Like I said before celebrates aren’t the crazy loons we are and as much as it pains me to say this epic battle for Good vs Evil isn’t as clear cut as we all wish it would be.