tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30006406.post5538148146220816273..comments2024-03-28T13:07:51.025-07:00Comments on Winging It: AcclimatedStanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04523232247971115247noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30006406.post-5332674828885123342009-06-09T16:19:35.295-07:002009-06-09T16:19:35.295-07:00I believe quite obviously our moral climate has di...I believe quite obviously our moral climate has digressed in many ways and improved greatly in many other ways.<br /><br />Just ask African Americans (and their friends and loved ones) if things aren't a million times better from a racism point of view and from an equal rights point of view and from a not getting lynched point of view.<br /><br />Just ask women who want to have some job other than nurse or teacher if things haven't improved. Just ask a woman who was abused in the 1960s if things haven't improved greatly.<br /><br />In many great and profound and Godly ways, things are significantly better.<br /><br />In other ways, things are certainly worse. It is a shame that so many teens get pregnant. It is a shame that there are so many divorces.<br /><br />My point is only that people have always longed for the "good old days" and the truth is that things always improve and things always get worse.Dan Trabuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14303597141397042669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30006406.post-80722907687227235132009-06-09T06:54:50.196-07:002009-06-09T06:54:50.196-07:00So, Dan (Trabue), you do not believe that the mora...So, Dan (Trabue), you do not believe that the moral climate of our time (and our country) has declined in the last, say, 50 years? (Not to say that there hasn't been a thing or two improved. I'm just asking in an overall sense ... you know, given teen pregnancy rates, divorce, suicide rates, murders, all that stuff that you and I would <i>agree</i> is a problem.)<br /><br />I understand that my childhood may not have been normal (although it was for me -- I mean, <i>no one</i> I knew was racist, sexist, or advocated violence toward sinners). My point wasn't that it was normal, but that it could be done -- lose the errors while retaining morality.Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04523232247971115247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30006406.post-90980427086449990652009-06-08T21:17:16.960-07:002009-06-08T21:17:16.960-07:00Yes, I think your last suggestion is true. I don&#...Yes, I think your last suggestion is true. I don't generally buy into these "the world is going to hell in a handbasket." We have always had a bent towards sin and we still do. We may change the flavor of our sins, but sin remains with us and we are still God's children and some of us are God's followers and that portion remains with us, too.<br /><br />In short, we have always had the good and the bad within and amongst us. We have always had people saying things are getting worse. And things have always gotten worse. And better.<br /><br />I'm glad to hear that you never heard any sexism or racism or violence towards gays being taught to you growing up. I did, unfortunately, and sometimes (not often, thank God) amongst the "good church folk," unfortunately.Dan Trabuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14303597141397042669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30006406.post-68164303158859492222009-06-08T17:57:27.315-07:002009-06-08T17:57:27.315-07:00Improving conditions like racism and sexism are go...Improving conditions like racism and sexism are good things. When people say, "Well, when we throw <i>those</i> out, we throw out <i>all</i> that bad stuff," we're in deep trouble. You know ... "the baby with the bathwater."<br /><br />Funny thing, though. When I was growing up I never learned racism, sexism or the notion that beating up sinners was a good idea. I was never taught them, and they never occurred to me. Maybe it didn't <i>have</i> to be that way. Or, more precisely, maybe Man has <i>always</i> been sinful, and we just trade "sins of the day".Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04523232247971115247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30006406.post-85503779582555502502009-06-08T13:50:47.862-07:002009-06-08T13:50:47.862-07:00Too often true, I must agree.
However, we have to...Too often true, I must agree.<br /><br />However, we have to keep in mind that as some things get worse (and I think they are), other things have improved. Racism is nowhere NEAR as tolerated as it was when I was a child. <br /><br />It's perfectly fine and normal in most schools (at least urban schools, I can't speak to the rural ones) for a black and white kid to date. We have no more lynchings (or very few) as there were just as recently as my childhood in the 1960s.<br /><br />Sexism is not nearly as bad as it once was. Homophobia is not what it once was (and here, I'm talking about the blatant assault and abuse of gay and lesbian kids, in addition to the verbal bullying - although we certainly have a ways to go on that front) - and even if you think being a homosexual is wrong, surely you would agree that it is nothing to be abused over.<br /><br />Yes, things have gotten worse in some ways. But thank God, things HAVE improved in others.<br /><br />The question seems to me to be, how do we make progress on fronts like racism, sexism and homophobia without getting worse in areas like being too promiscuous or in terms of divorce?Dan Trabuehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14303597141397042669noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30006406.post-35436620369088586782009-06-08T09:01:26.363-07:002009-06-08T09:01:26.363-07:00When we accept as "normal" what used to ...When we accept as "normal" what used to be "sinful", we find one of two things. 1) We were wrong before ... and for good reason. 2) We were right before ... but we just don't care. Unfortunately, the proponents of "what was sin is now normal" like to throw the first option at us (as if this proves something) and say, "What ... do you want us to go back to slavery?" (or something equally nonsensical).<br /><br />Yes ... worse-er and accelerating.Stanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04523232247971115247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30006406.post-77394257857785031872009-06-08T08:25:21.513-07:002009-06-08T08:25:21.513-07:00Good point. I've wondered the same thing. I ...Good point. I've wondered the same thing. I was talking to a 1st grade teacher 10 or so years ago who had recently retired after 35 years of teaching, and I ask her had the children changed over the years. Her answer: "they are violent today". <br /><br />I too have wondered about the cause and effect. I am convinced that not only is it worse today, but it is getting worse-er at a an accelerating rate.Danny Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15006024707303951009noreply@blogger.com