Imagine a classroom of 50 students. 18 students make a complaint that they have evidence that 4 students did not follow the rules and possibly cheated on the final exam. Then they are just told to sit down and shut up because their grade was not harmed by the actions of the 4 students in question. In other words, it is no longer, “If you see something, say something”. It is, “If you see something, mind your own business.” How many students do you think might not follow the rules next time?
This has been the direction of the country for a while now. Cheating used to be a shameful thing. Now it is accepted and many times congratulated. Each year, when they would announce the top ten students at school, I would have students tell me that they knew in fact that some of those students cheated their way to the top and most students were aware of it. I did not tolerate cheating in my class. Some teachers did, some didn’t.
It is part of a growing philosophy that the “ends justify the means”. If one stands to benefit, then the rules be damned. “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other” were the words John Adams, second President of the U.S., said in a letter to the Massachusetts Militia on 11 October 1798. (You can read his full letter here.) In 2003, I sat in my church where the preacher said morality was no longer a problem. He said the problem now was “amorality” and then he stated that what was amoral were tax cuts. I left that church over that and other sermons and never went back. I changed churches.
Moral relativism is the view that moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint and that there are no universal moral values shared by every human. You see examples of this viewpoint on the news every day. I think you probably recognize what I am talking about. (I believe universal moral values and truth come from God)
Rather than just complain and call people names, what do we do about it? If you are a conservative like me, it is time to be better at evangelizing your beliefs. Tell people WHY you believe the way you do. Give a talk to a group. I created this website. Somebody said don’t talk politics or religion because it will lead to an argument. It’s time to take on the argument. If we are not willing to do that, then it is time to sit down and shut up.
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