And the Winner Is...the Moral Idiot

We certainly live in interesting times. The changes experienced by humanity, just during my own lifetime, are nothing short of radical. Most folks, however, when they consider the scope and pace of change that the world has undergone during the past century or so, focus almost exclusively on technological change. I suppose that's natural since these changes are certainly among the most evident. My father, for example, who was born in 1909 and died in 2005, came into a world when horse-drawn vehicles far outnumbered automobiles, when the airplane was a flimsy contraption that could barely stay airborne, and when such "necessities" as the telephone or indoor plumbing were still rarities in most homes. How vastly different from the world he left 95 years later: a world of space exploration and international air travel and interstate highways; a world of high-definition television and cell phones and the Internet; a world of heart transplants and antibiotics and laser surgery; a world of dishwashers and microwave ovens and air conditioning -- all of this in the course of a single lifetime.

Yes, technological change is evident, and because it's so evident, it can distract us to the extent that we ignore or overlook more profound psychological and philosophical changes to the very order of human life. Technology and an evolving notion of the "good life" have caused us to believe that we are progressing not only in science and its application, but also in all aspects of human activity. The result is that rapid progress in some very evident but relatively superficial areas has masked a more gradual but continual decline in the things that really matter to the future of humanity.

Now, I'm no Luddite. I neither oppose technological change nor believe it to be inherently detrimental to the human condition. Indeed, the very fact that I'm using this medium to communicate with others should be evidence of that. My concerns are less with technology itself than with those who are blinded by the material progress resulting from technological change. Enamored of the tools they have introduced into the world, they have lost sight of the proper end to which the use of those tools should be directed. This disconnect between means and ends has led them to believe that all innovation and technological advancement must equate with progress, regardless of how they are applied. If it can be done, it should be done -- this has become their mantra.

Of course this thinking is nothing new. It's been around for centuries, certainly among the intellectual class. But only in relatively recent times has it begun to affect (infect?) the population as a whole. We see it in the kind of fact-based education we inflict on our children -- an education that no longer addresses what T. S. Eliot called the "permanent things," but focuses instead on the development of so-called "life skills" that will supposedly enable the individual to become a productive and compliant citizen...i.e., a "success." In other words, the pursuit of truth has been supplanted by the accumulation of fact as the goal of education. Indeed, the very concept of truth has become passe, a victim of the relativism that denies the existence of universals, of anything that transcends man and his works.

Without universal truths there is no morality, no understanding of right or wrong, no conception of good or evil. All becomes relative. All becomes acceptable. Any behavior can be justified and excused. Mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, doctors and politicians justify the murder of the most innocent among us, those about to be born and those who are ill or infirm or disabled, simply because it is convenient to do so. Some justify the commission of horrendous acts of terrorism based on their interpretation of the writings of a seventh-century prophet, while others justify similar acts citing the need to right what they believe to be historic injustices. Obscenity is no longer recognized for what it is, and so we are confronted daily by the actions of those determined to excise the forbidden in the name of "freedom."

Too many religious leaders, because they too have been infected by the prevailing relativism, openly lead their followers to acceptance of these same errors. And others, because they fear public criticism or political repercussions, refrain from challenging and correcting those who stray from the timeless truth of Revelation. The result is an America that can in no longer be considered a Judeo-Christian society. As a people we have come to accept all of these and many other errors as the effects of progress. This is a "done deal" and will not likely be reversed without divine intervention. The winner of the battle for the American soul is the moral idiot. And as his reward we listen to him and praise him, and give him awards, and buy his products, and elect him to political office.


I think I now know what Jesus meant when he asked, "But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" [Lk 18:8]