As a strong generalisation among the British people - whether children through growing-up, or simply being adults across the decades: nice people will always become corrupted sooner or later by leftism and the sexual revolution, unless (sometimes) when they are religious.
Niceness is a virtue of sorts - but a minor virtue. When niceness is treated as if it were a major virtue, then - in a mostly-corrupt world - corruption is almost inevitable.
So (in Britain, now) nice kids (kids of good character), who are brought up well - 'well' according to mainstream secular ideas of kindly parenting and homelife, who are highly-educated, pleasant people, with loving parents and in stable and comfortable homes... such kids are highly prone to become corrupted... when corruption is measured by Christian standards of behaviour.
The same applies to almost all people in education, at work, unemployed, in retirement... as time goes by they become corrupt. Nothing (secular) seems to stop it: no type of character, no background in generic decency, neither riches nor poverty, comfort or hardship, oppression or supremacy.
In what ways corrupt? They may be dishonest, promiscuous, self-mutilated (tattoos, piercings), active in evil causes (leftist projects, bureaucracy etc), self-hating, self-destructive, despairing, cowardly, unprincipled (much the same as cowardice)... the pattern of mainstream corruption is very common, indeed it is statistically-normal.
It is clear that old standards, old ideas of common sense, of minor virtues, of 'fairness' and 'decency'... all are too feeble to resist corruption.
Why? Simply because these pro-social traits are counter-productive when the society is itself aimed-at evil.
False metaphysics - false assumptions about the nature of reality - will win through in the end; and their falsity is what prevents long term strong resistance; because secular, hedonic materialism prevents any strong alternative which is Good; which is motivating, en-couraging, and loving.
At any time and place, not merely our own, the practical application of the virtue of mercy must depend on a firm grounding in the virtues of justice.
ReplyDeleteIf we do not take time and effort to judge whether our extension of mercy is likely to be used for good (or at least not for great evil) by those to whom we extend it, then the result will inevitably be that our resources to do any good at all will be primarily squandered on those who seek to further wicked ends rather than good ones.
This situation is not new, one can hardly even say that it is significantly worse in our day.