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Jewish World Review Nov. 1, 1999/21 Mar-Cheshvan, 5760

David Limbaugh

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Signs of the times


http://www.jewishworldreview.com -- SOME SAY that our society has reversed its moral decline. Crime and teenage pregnancy are down, for example. Are you convinced?

Irrespective of this "objective" evidence that we are bootstrapping our way out of the cultural gutter, other signs suggest we still have some work to do.

Let's examine some of the "other" evidence picked randomly from various news sources within a period of a few days.

CBN News reports that a group of middle school parents in Northern, Va., were shocked to discover that their middle-schoolers were engaging in oral sex.

An internet poll conducted by "Seventeen" magazine reveals that 30 percent of the students believe that students start having oral sex between the ages of 11 and 14, and 56 percent believe it to be between the ages of 14 and 17.

According to the CBN report, the kids don't consider oral sex as having sex. I wonder which moral leader could possibly have planted that promiscuous seed in their fertile young minds?

What should parents expect when the president of the United States testifies under oath before a grand jury that he had not committed perjury in a previous civil case by denying having had sex with Monica Lewinsky -- because oral sex isn't sex?

USA Today reports that an international fashion photographer is preparing to launch a website that will auction ovarian eggs for up to $150,000 from some of the beautiful models he photographs. This is 50 times more than the conventional $3,000 that egg donors are paid by fertility clinic clients. The concept is that if you are willing to pay enough money, you will have a beautiful child.

This Internet entrepreneur has an ideal background for his new enterprise. No, it's not medical. He formerly bred Arabian horses that he sold for as much as $200,000 each. In this glorious postmodern world, after all, what's the difference between horses and people? Besides, what's wrong with eugenics?

As moral absolutes are not recognized in our humanistic culture, upon what basis do we make ethical distinctions?

Conservative News Service reports that families in Franklin, Ohio, voiced their shock and disbelief at a high school teacher because of a certain question he included on a list of possible topics for a writing assignment. The question was: "If you had to assassinate one famous person who is alive right now, who would it be, and how would you do it?"

Almost as disturbing as the teacher's action is the fact that so many liberal relativists are vigorously defending it. On the night of the report, these enlightened thinkers were all over the cable talk shows defending the teacher's effort to promote creativity in his students.

These zealous advocates of the arts were absolutely oblivious to the evil inherent in encouraging students to flirt with the dark side. Note that their hypothetical murder victim was not to be anonymous; they were to decide which real live famous person they would kill.

They were encouraged to weigh the despicable qualities of celebrities and determine who was most worthy of extermination. Implicit in the question was the assumption that certain human beings morally deserve to be murdered. To say otherwise is disingenuous.

No one should be encouraged to think such depraved thoughts, especially not students. To the relativists, ideas are generally devoid of moral content and societal impact (except perhaps, for hate crimes -- but never mind their inconsistency. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of uncompromising little conservative minds.) But ideas do have consequences. Our actions spring from our thoughts.

The foregoing stories do not describe events that find their way onto any statistical lists of leading cultural indicators but are every bit as relevant in measuring our society's moral health.

Sadly, these kinds of events are not even aberrational, but inevitable in a society that has abandoned G-d and absolute moral standards. How can a society that doesn't even believe in holiness aspire to it? How can it ever purify itself from these contaminating influences on the body and spirit?

When you remove G-d and His standards, you are left with a vacuum that eventually is filled with the poisonous fruit of an unchecked human pride.


JWR contributor David Limbaugh is an attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and a political analyst and commentator. Send your comments to him by clicking here.

Up

10/27/99: The false charge of isolationism
10/25/99: A matter of freedom
10/20/99: Clinton's mini-meltdown
10/18/99: Senate GOP shows statesmanship
10/13/99: Senate must reject nuclear treaty
10/11/99: Bush bites feeding hand
10/06/99: Jesse accidentally opens door for Pat
10/04/99: Clinton and his media enablers
09/29/99: Reagan: Big-tent conservatism
09/27/99: The Clinton/Gore taint?
09/22/99: Have gun (tragedy), will travel
09/20/99: Hillary's blunders and bloopers
09/15/99: GOP must remain conservative
09/13/99:Time for Bush to take charge, please
09/10/99: Bush's education plan: Dubya confounds again
09/07/99: Pat, savior or spoiler?
09/02/99: Character doesn't matter?
08/30/99: Should we judge?
08/25/99: Dubyah's drug question: Not a hill to die on
08/23/99: Should Dubyah start buying soap ... for all that mud?
08/16/99: 'W' stands for 'winner'
08/11/99: The truth about tax cuts
08/09/99: Hillary: Threading the needle
08/04/99: What would you do?
08/02/99: No appeasement for China
07/30/99: Hate Crimes Bill: Cynical Symbolism
07/26/99: It’s the 'moderates', stupid
07/21/99: JFK Jr. and Diana: the pain of privilege
07/19/99: Smith, Bush and the GOP
07/14/99: GOP must be a party of ideas
07/12/99: Gore's gender gap
07/08/99: Clinton’s faustian bargain: our justice
07/06/99: The key to Bush's $36 million
06/30/99: Gore: a soda in every fountain
06/28/99: 'Sacred wall' or religious barrier?
06/23/99: GOP must lead in foreign policy
06/21/99: Crumbs of compassion
06/16/99: Compassionate conservatism: face-lift or body transplant?
06/10/99: Victory in Kosovo? Now What?

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