Unintended consequences

As many writers have stated – elections have consequences. Actually, everything has consequences, including inaction.

Three articles came to my attention yesterday that are concerning in the fact that the “whatever feels good” culture pushers have no idea the unintended consequences their push towards young people has. Dalrymple expounds on the philosophy as expressed by Ibsen: “the elevation of emotion over principles, of inclination over duty, of rights over responsibilities, of ego over the claims of others; the impatience with boundaries and the promotion of the self as the measure of all things”

• Through Cassy’s site: Kathleen McKinley “What the liberal culture has brought us“
• Through Pundit and Pundette: “GLEE-fully pornifying the family hour”
• Then this through Cassy again about the Alfred Kinsey reports and their likely sources

These are the unintended consequences of the philosophy “any means necessary to achieve my desired end”….any situation, any individual is a tool to be used along the path of achieving the desired outcome.

Dalrymple tells a story in his essay “A drinker of infinity” about “forced” confessions of many of the old Bolsheviks during the 1940’s that resulted in their deaths. “…from the very beginning of their careers they had served foreign intelligence services…how had the Communist officials obtained these confessions?” (“Not with a Bang, but a Whimper”)

Dalrymple’s answer:

All their adult lives they had believed that the end justified the means, moreover, and crucially, they had delegated to the party the exclusive right to judge both ends and means.

Unfortunately, this philosophy is showing up in the culture wars as well. Who cares if the children aren’t all right – no need to find out the real reasons behind it. Don’t let statistical data get in the way – make it a battle over the age of consent, “school safety”, express-yourself sexuality…you know, things adults care about.

 Maggie Gallagher:

[children] should not become a mere rhetorical strategy, a plaything in our adult battles.

Each of these teens is a child of God. And each one deserves better from all of us that becoming a “teachable moment” in someone else’s culture war.