We are currently in the midst of this generation's witch hunt or McCarthyism. No, I'm not talking about actual witches, but it does involve demons and making lists. Only now, these "witches" come in forms of being accused of being "hateful", "racist", and "bullies" and demonizing those folks. The squeaky wheels of today seem to have some fixation on seeing who they can attach these labels to, ready to pounce at the slightest misstep of their prey. I'll explain further shortly, but let me first share the dangers/results of this.
1. Lowering of Societal Standards and Principles. I fear that we are being conditioned to lower societal standards or principles by means of emotions and hurt feelings. When someone says "don't judge me" or calls it names such as "hate," it is a defense mechanism used to justify living outside of standards. Not to mention, it is only a disguise for a guilt trip.
If we don't have standards and rather live by "don't judge [anyone else]," then no one can say that cooking and eating pets is wrong. Or that parking your car on your neighbor's grass is wrong. Or that just letting go of your empty shopping cart (and if it hits another car, oh well) is wrong. Or that a father who has sex with his own 6 year-old daughter is wrong. Or Hitler. Hitler didn't see that extermination of an entire sect of people was wrong; in fact, he claimed religious purposes for it. In Mein Kampf, he wrote, "I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.." [Alrighty then, well, who are we to "judge" him? Hitler believed he was right and justified in his work, so why should we impose our standards on him? As Americans, he really wasn't bothering us, so what business did we have? We should have left him alone and "let him do him", right?] Please note this bracketed section is not what I believe; indeed it is crude and extreme examples, but I feel like they clearly get the point across.
All the aforementioned wrongdoings would easily pass muster if the world lived by the "don't judge others" rule. Because by someone saying "don't judge me," they are pleading for the other to leave them alone to do what they want to do (and sometimes are attempting to guilt the other).
Here is the crazy part: People buy into it! Because it is only a guilt mechanism that implores the "aggressor" to refrain from applying principles, the "judge" or "aggressor" backs off in fear of hurting feelings. That leads me to result #2.
There are things that society must protect and object to, and for someone not to call evil or perversion what it is, is evil itself.
"Principles invite us to clean up our act; to become intolerant of moral laxity and compromise and cowardice and the turning away from what is upsetting." - Susan Sontag
2. A Society Run by Fear of Hurting Feelings. Continuing from my previous point, they say fear is a great motivator--and we certainly aren't proving that saying wrong by being a spineless society. Instead, we kowtow to the person committing the act we know to be wrong (really, we are giving way to the act), all because we don't want to hurt their feelings. Perhaps we also are fearful of being put on the Black List of haters, homophobes, and bullies.
If you dare speak out against what someone does (take the rape and incest example above), you are deemed hateful and/or a "bully" because you are trying to get someone to conform to something they personally don't agree with.
Second example: Society has bought into this twisted idea that in effect, "bullying" is when another does something to you that you don't like (or hurts feelings). Aledo, Texas' high school football team beat Western Hills 91-0, and a parent filed a complaint, alleging that Aledo's coaches were mean ol' bullies. Why? Because they intentionally meant to inflict emotional and mental harm on the other team? No; that theory fails because the coaches put in the backups beginning in the first quarter. Was it because Aledo tried to coerce Western Hills to do something against their will? No. What then is the basis of the complaint? It boils down to this: someone got embarrassed or didn't feel like they were up to par.
That doesn't sound like Aledo's problem to me--that is solely the parent's problem! In fact, Western Hills' coach (for the defeated team) said he disagreed with the complaint filed. As the Texas Education Agency defines it, "bullying" is unwanted behavior that may stem from an imbalance of power or strength, sometimes resulting in one side being unable to defend themselves. This leads me to point #3.
3. A Society Full of Wusses. By the TEA enforcing this definition of "bullying," our society is being conditioned to cater to the weakest of society. It's a message of teaching kids to cry, give up, give in, and decline to learn how to solve their own problems, rather than encouraging kids to learn about disappointment, failure, or imbalances. Life is going to really, really suck for the kids brought up in the filth of "trophies for everyone!" (or maybe suck for the older generation watching the debacle this creates).
Here's why: if you're reading this, you cannot tell me that you have never had to go through a time in life in which you never experienced disappointment, failure, or imbalance. You can't tell me you've never lost a matchup in debate, sports, chess, etc. You can't tell me with a straight face that you haven't ever missed a basket on a basketball court, or gotten less than a 100 semester average. You can't tell me that you've never been let down by a peer, co-worker, friend, parent, girlfriend, etc. You can't tell me that you've never come across someone who was better than you at something. You can't tell me these unless you live in a bubble by yourself.
That's life! Life is about disappointment, failure, and imbalances! If kids don't learn how to deal with life in its entirety and whole package, we all are freakin' doomed because we will have a society full of degenerates who don't know how to function. They won't learn how to counter "imbalances in strength". They won't learn to develop their own strengths. They won't learn to overcome adversity.
Look, no matter what mindset our society is feeding, there is no "Hurt feelings task force" ready to roll out and hammer down on someone who isn't nice, or is offensive, or says mean things. People can suck sometimes. It happens. That's life! But everyone has to be responsible for themselves. You cannot control what someone else says, but you ARE in control of you. You CAN control how those words make you feel. You CAN allow those words get to you, or you can decide to shake them off. You CAN control your emotions, no matter what anyone else says.
You know what's cool? Being strong. And it takes a strong person to choose to let things go and be the bigger person. It takes a strong person to accept responsibility and to take command themselves and what they do. It takes a strong person to refuse to let someone else offend them.
But you won't hear that from the society that seeks to target "bullies". You won't get that message from a society that feeds the idea that you need to be hands-off on others' perverted policies either because you're being "judgmental" (a term so far lost in society) or "hateful."
I'm fearful that I find myself living in a world that has lost its idea of what is right and wrong between a growing gap of the extremes. I'm afraid that I live among people who applaud things such as incest, how many one-night stands or "notches on the belt" you've had, and marital infidelity. If that line is regressing, where does it end? At what point does Hitler become justified? That scares me.
