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What kind of people are we?

By Robert T. Smith
web posted May 20, 2013

It is hard to imagine people who engage in certain heinous acts.  It is foreign to a normal person's everyday life.  Where once there was a general base-line of acknowledgement of what is right and wrong, there nowadays seems to be no clear standard of behavior.  It is incumbent upon us to re-instill these base-line ideals, or we become just another of history's failed societies.  The Gosnell murder trial has been quite instructive in regard to what our society has become.

Horrible actions so assault the basic senses of decency and morality that many times we hold them at arms length, don't look too closely before putting them down or dwelling on them further.  Ignore the situation, change the channel, don't discuss such unpleasantness, or pass it off as just politics.  We choose not to involve ourselves too deeply in such perversity in order to retain our protective layer built up against reality.

Morality, decency, virtuousness had in the past seemed more mutually shared visions.  These ideals formed a cohesive bond that held our society together.  Certainly, our country was once the beacon for these high ideals that now appear mostly regional or locally held here in our country.  Downtown Cody, Wyoming likely reflects a very different set of values than downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  One could posit that the general shared values of Cody are likely a bit more virtuous than those of Philadelphia.  Values and virtues are not the same; some values can be virtuous and others not...for example, even Hitler had a set of values. 

The glue that held society together has been dissolved in many areas of our country in large part by the twin thieves of cultural relativism and diversity.  Cultural relativism informs us that all cultures are equally valid, no one culture is better than another.  Cultural relativism suggests that we are not to judge the treatment of women under Sharia Law or killing excess babies under the one child policy of China, etc.  Diversity informs us that the actions of any individual of various races, cultures, or beliefs are no better or worse than another's.  Diversity suggests that we are not to judge others who choose to kill babies, practice homosexuality, or who have chosen reliance on welfare over work, etc.  Once clear standards of morality, decency, or virtuousness are eliminated, then there is no base-line over which to disagree with another's cultural or diverse individual practices, each person's perspective is just as valid as another's. 

What normal person could imagine holding a completely helpless baby in their hands, taking surgical scissors and snipping the baby's neck.  As we now know from the recent news headlines, the infamous Dr. Gosnell would kill human babies well beyond being large enough for life, including clipping their feet off and storing them separately in jars for some macabre purpose.  How can a normal person wrap their mind around the fact that even as they read this, somewhere in our country there is another Dr. Gosnell killing a human baby under the guise of "women's health."  How can we explain the dichotomy of the Prosecutor in this case breaking down and crying at the reading of the verdict, while the Defense was shocked that Dr. Gosnell was found guilty, but stated that they did acknowledge the Dr. "bent the rules."  Gosnell's attorney blamed the verdict on the "baby factor," whatever that means.  

Most Americans are the people who dig into their own wallets and drop the coin in the homeless person's cup.  We are the people who donate more than any country in the world when a natural catastrophe hits anywhere in the world, even donating to people who tell us that they hate us.  We fill the pantries of every county in our country with food for those who need a hand up or sustenance in their advanced age.  We are people who help the elderly neighbor shovel out in the winter or mow their grass.  We see stories of heroic assistance of our fellow man in all manner of dire situations almost nightly on the news.  We value human life and don't believe that killing babies in or out of their mother's womb is a choice that can be made by individuals other than murderers.

Who are these other people who walk among us?  The criminally insane or mentally disturbed are one problem, but these others who live in the anything goes world of cultural relativism and diversity are most problematic.  How can we exist as a moral, just society when we have those who force the notion of cultural relativism over the exceptionalism of what was America, or who pass laws and exercise the "right" to choose to kill babies.  With these people among us, our silence or inaction, political affiliation and voting record begs the question ....what kind of people are we? ESR

Robert T. Smith is an environmental scientist who spends his days enjoying life and the pursuit of happiness with his family.  He confesses to cling to his liberty, guns and religion, with antipathy toward the arrogant ruling elites throughout the country.

 

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