Pleae see “Sex, Morality, and the Decline of a Nation,” http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=958. That article discussed moral absolutes, gay views on those absolutes, and the general decline in America’s moral attitudes and behavior and what all that means for Western civilization.

This, obviously, is largely a subjective analysis and comments have clearly shown that there are differing opinions, mostly from the gay community. But that’s what makes for horse races and crap games.

As a disclaimer, I should concede that I am no moralist or social philosopher. I am commenting and reflecting simply on the basis of many years observing the social scene in America as well as on evident truths which too many of us refuse to confront.

Despite the gay reaction, this is not part of a campaign to single out homosexuals which, it has been alleged, was the purpose in numerous other articles here. Gays represent a prime example of America’s slipping into the cesspool of moral degradation and eventual oblivion but they are hardly the only examplars.

Cases in point:

AmericanThinker.com recently featured a piece entitled, “Moral Education for the New Order,” http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/04/moral_education_for_the_new_or.html, which primarily focused on on the ethical values of America’s young people. That article by Kyle-Anne Shiver cites various polls on the political, religious, and social views of our youth. All are intimately related and all indicate a downward spiralling of the quality of their lives and, as a consequence, of America’s future.

Cheating in school, lying to parents, stealing, plagiarizing, etc. all have two common denominators: Those most likely to cheat, lie, steal, and plagiarize tend toward the liberal and irreligious end of the political spectrum, and they have an outstanding sense of self esteem.

Liberal thinking leads to moral ambiguity and ambivalence at the same time it confers a false sense of self worth predicated on bad choices liberals make. Lie and cheat today, and get away with it, and it becomes an ego boost that’s carried into adulthood when the the liars and cheaters will continue those habits. No matter what they do, those youths–and their liberal elders, as seen in a related poll–believe they are “better than most people.”

As Shiver concludes, “Liberals tend to think of themselves as not only smarter than conservatives, but also as more honest, more charitable, more loving and more just in their relations with other human beings. . . [whereas] the exact opposite is actually true.” (See her article for a host of examples, details, and sources.)

To forestall misinterpretation, neither Ms. Shiver nor I suggests that conservatives are sacrosanct. Witness former Idaho Senator Larry Craig who, though never convicted, apparently tried to play footsie in a public men’s room with a non-footsie- playing law enforcement agent. Craig’s main challenge now is to convince his wife and kids that it was all a mistake.

There once was a time when campus highjinx referred to the antics of college kids engaged in such harmless stunts as conducting late night panty raids, swallowing goldfish, or stuffing twenty human beings into a Volkswagen.  Those college days are long gone.  

Many of today’s college students are so hungover from last night’s binging and with heads so clouded with marijuana that they wouldn’t know how to conduct a panty raid or they would confuse a goldfish with a bong.  As for stuffing twenty of themselves into a Volkswagen, they’re far too busy stuffing themselves into coeds.

The trickle down has trickled into high schools, middle schools, and even elementary schools and whereas in olden days when the chief issues teachers had were kids chewing gum and talking in class, contemporary problems often involve sex and drugs and rocking and rolling in ways their grandparents could never have imagined.

The Guttmacher Institute, a “research arm” for Planned Parenthood and a purveyor of abortion, (see http://www.pop.org/main.cfm?EID=628, and http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=10643)  reports that almost half of 15-19 year olds have had sex, by 15 “only” 13 % have had sex, but by age 19 some 70% have gone all the way, as we elders euphemistically called intercourse.  http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_ATSRH.html. 

The recent scandal that rocked Gloucester High School in Massachusetts, which caters to kids bearing kids, may have been an aberration to a degree since teenies there actually planned their pregnancies, but sex in all its variations has clearly become one of the most popular indoor–and sometimes outdoor–sport in and out of America’s public schools.  (See previous articles on this website on Gloucester High and teen sex.)

Many teachers have adapted to this new educational environment in less than pedagogically-sound ways as seen especially in Parts One and Two of this series and, again those incidents were not exceptional.

Others included a senior field trip to Washington D.C. when a science teacher chaperone seemed to forget the purpose of his presence in the hotel–to chaperone, protect, and guide those in his charge.  Mr. D. was a married man whose excuse was that he was trashed when he broke into a girls’ room and attempted to rape one of them.  He was summarily not discharged and sent packing although a letter of reprimand may have been placed in his personnel file.  Police were not summoned; they rarely are since police reports and publicity were anathema to school administrators.