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THE LACK OF SHAME RANT
No society can long survive unscathed unless the individual members of that society are imbued with a very strong and healthy sense of SHAME, or GUILT, or REMORSE. In order to possess these attributes, societal members must have consciences capable of being bothered, of feeling guilty. Without that necessary sense of shame, society ceases to evolve and instead begins to devolve. The more lacking this sense of shame, the more utter and complete the devolution process until the nation becomes literally unrecognizable and thoroughly dysfunctional.
Unfortunately, that is exactly what is occurring to unarguably the greatest nation God ever gave mankind. We are literally committing “Nation-A-Cide.” No foreign armies can defeat us and while terrorists can sting us from time to time, they cannot bring us down. We’re doing quite nicely in that department all by ourselves, thank you very much! We’re letting it happen and I fear we may have reached the point of no return. Rome, too, could have saved itself, but that Empire failed to recognize the growing moral rot, societal decay, and plummeting standards that eventually became its death knell. This sense of shame is not generic nor is it institutional. It cannot be mandated by government fiat, it cannot be learned in school, and it cannot be inculcated in the workplace. It must be taught and learned in the home and must be reinforced generationally. Well, as some famous guy once said, “Therein lies the fucking rub.”
The family structure in America is suffering a melt-down that will have more severe repercussions than the one that took out Cherynoble. The family, our most basic and crucial societal unit, is crumbling so tragically fast in many parts of the nation – notably our inner-city, urban ghettoes – that salvage may be damned nigh impossible. With fifteen year-olds becoming parents, thirty year-olds becoming grandparents, forty-five year-olds becoming great grandparents, and sixty year-olds becoming GREAT, GREAT GRANDPARENTS, it’s probably time to hoist the white flag and admit defeat. How in the HELL can children who are no where near being close to maturity teach moral values and societal norms to their infant, little bastards!?
That’s right, in the overwhelming majority of instances, the young “couple” is not and never will be married. This is becoming the norm nation-wide and is absolutely normal, accepted, and deemed entirely appropriate behavior in our inner-city ghettoes! Whatever happened to that utter sense of shame and horror that accompanied the “Blessed Event” only a few generations ago? For those of us old enough to recall, an out of wedlock, teen-age pregnancy was extremely rare. It just wasn’t heard of and was never received joyously. The family’s sense of shame was so intensely acute, so painful, that the young lady was almost invariably sent away to a distant relative where no one knew the mother-to-be’s home town, immediate family, or friends. After the birth, the infant was almost sure to be put up for adoption, upon which time Mom returned home and the family explained that she had been recovering from some terrible illness or accident. The “Event” was never spoken of, never referred to, and was absolutely never to be repeated again!
Whatever, for example, happened to that wonderful institution so quaintly known as the “Shot Gun Wedding?!?” You know, “You knocked up my daughter, stud? Well now you’re gonna freakin’ marry her or the shot gun gets used on you!!” There were so few out of wedlock teen-age pregnancies only a few generations ago because most teens were too afraid of the horrific reaction from family and community, too mortified to carry the stigma, The Scarlet Letter, for all and sundry to see. You understand, they were fucking ashamed of what they did, their families were fucking ashamed of what they did and viewed it as a reflection upon themselves.
Without a sense of shame, if we do not rekindle that sense of remorse and guilt this once great nation is steamrolling toward third-world status. We will witness massive poverty, huge hordes of rootless, homeless, and destitute roaming and marauding from street to street and city to city. They will do anything to sustain themselves and large-scale rioting and looting will become commonplace. This seems to be the direction the nation is taking. So what to do, what to do? How can we fix what is broken?
Well so far, we’ve managed to attempt to fix the problems with solutions that absolutely guarantee making them worse. In a dazzling, nay brilliant, example of “anti-logic” and a totally warped sense of compassion, we make it easier for “MoM” to keep the little bastards coming! We provide everything required to raise the kid in that ghetto ambience which the parent has so thoroughly embraced. Welfare checks, food stamps, subsidized housing – now there’s a great euphemism – and anything else you can name. It’s just enough to keep them prisoners in the ghetto and dependent on government hand-outs, but never enough to really improve their lives.
Welfare used to be called charity and it stigmatized and shamed the recipient. It was supposed to. It was designed to embarrass and humiliate. Putting one’s hand out was an admission of failure: failure to take care of yourself and your family. Having failed at society’s most important and elemental obligations, the receiver of said charity was literally forced to beg for a hand-out from those who had done the right things and made the right decisions. It put the “FAILURE” in the mind to set things right. Charity was seen as a temporary measure, a short-term fix, to last only until the recipient got back on his feet and, to use a hackneyed phrase, turned his life and fortunes around.
Hasn’t quite worked out so far, has it? This temporary condition has now become a permanent way of life and a fixture of American society. We are now into our fourth generation of welfare recipients and millions of families have never known anything else. It has become so warped that welfare programs are now dubbed ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS! You got that, Skippy? FUCKING ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS!! Entitlement programs, my ass! NO ONE IS ENTITLED TO ANYTHING EARNED BY SOMEONE ELSE!!! At one time, this concept was accepted by virtually the entire society. It was simply assumed, even by the recipient, that charity was a gift from a compassionate individual or group and that no one was fucking entitled to it!! The concept is totally shameless and only those with no sense of shame could endorse such an obvious travesty, such a perversion.
What, then, is the disincentive to keep “MoM” from having more children? None exist. Far too many schools, for example, provide total day-care centers, euphemistically termed “Lyfe Centres”, so that Mom can attend classes while someone else cares for the kids. What happens far too often, I am told, is that Mom drops the little darling off at the facility and promptly sneaks out of school while the suckers, read taxpayers, are left to wonder where the Hell it all went so wrong.
Economist Walter E. Williams and sociologist James Q. Wilson both agree that staying out of poverty is not all that difficult or complicated. First, do not drop out of school. Next, do not get married until you reach the advanced age of twenty-one. Finally, and here’s the kicker, DON’T HAVE CHILDREN UNTILYOU ARE MARRIED!! Hey guys, I hate to break the news to you, but it appears that no one is fucking listening!!
The teen out of wedlock pregnancy rate and the completely blasé reaction to it are but two indicators of this nation’s malaise. Subjects that years ago would never have been aired in public in front of virtual strangers are now so commonplace as to nary even raise the proverbial eyebrow. Absentee notes written by Mom – because there are virtually no Dads – used to read something like, “Please excuse my son’s absence for the last three days. He will make up any work he has missed.” Or perhaps, “Please excuse my daughter for being absent for the last five days. She will catch up on all her work.” It’s just a tad different these days. Here’s an illuminating example: Please excuse my son’s recent absences due to incarceration.” Or, “My daughter couldn’t come to school last week because of her abortion. She’ll make up all the work.” Incarceration?! Abortion?! You’re fucking kidding me, right?!?
Whatever happened to the flu or the high fevers? Where have all the stomach aches gone? Having a son locked up or anything to do with a daughter’s abortion used to be unmentionable! Things like that were never, ever mentioned above whispered tones and never to virtual strangers. Mom and/or Dad would have been too ashamed/mortified to admit this right out loud in front of God and everybody else. The guilt, the remorse, the absolute horror of admitting to such things would have been unthinkable and unbearable. No more, however. Now it’s all out there because it’s considered normal, mundane, commonplace, HO-HUM! Old Senator Moynihan got it right all those years ago when he introduced the phrase “Defining Deviancy Down” into the lexicon.
The Oxford Dictionary of Current English defines shame as “a feeling of embarrassment or distress arising from one’s awareness that one has done something wrong or foolish.” That’s gone. When a student can come to me and explain in an openly conversational tone that he’ll be away for the next eighteen months because he violated the conditions of his probation or parole and must finish serving his time, I get just a trifle pessimistic about my country’s future. That sense of shame which literally sets the limits of behavior is all but gone. As that sense of shame goes, so too goes the nation.
Much “Luv” Y’all and have a great day!
The Fifth Horseman!!
