Social Decay vs. Social Expectation

Judging from some of the feedback, I've annoyed more than a few people.  That's OK.  I don't want to always be 'preaching to the choir.'

So, let's return to the theme of social decay in the Developed World.  It is based on the single premise that the material life is the sum total of human existence.  Humans exist only in the biological sense.  We are all just 'instances' of a mammalian species, and while we have tremendous power over the environment and fellow life-forms, there really isn't much beyond that.

This puts the whole 'benefit' to human life on the experience of the moment.  There is no eternity or judgment or God or anything else to worry about except the 'now.'  If your 'now' is miserable, then it is just misery, period.  There is no certainty of a future under this system.  Should there be, then you must do everything possible to prepare for it in every way, lest you be caught in it without any help and be pointlessly miserable all over again.  This is why it is a 'rat race' with no clear victory, just endless mazes running from despair.

Life has no overarching benefit or plausible explanation for its existence.  There really is no direction other than accident, and so one should take matters into one's hands to guide history in one's favor while one can.  Then death comes and erases everything.

If there is any immortality, it is to be remembered by others for being someone important.  Fame is better than anything else other than raw hedonism.  After all, hedonism is the ultimate enjoyment of the now.  The immortality of remembrance is only enjoyed in one's imagination, making it powerful but far less tangible.

The only problem with this self-centered philosophy is that it leaves a wide wake of destruction.  There are things about human life that are not about just the now and the self's enjoyment of it.

There are children who need the love of a mother and a father, both of whom have to love even when they don't feel like it in the moment.  Humans are born with desires to be cared for by others and to receive love.  We are also willing to sacrifice ourselves for some greater good, even when we don't entirely understand it.

We are always looking for meaning beyond the material, and we struggle when we are denied it.

A society is based on the notion that something greater exists than just the self.  We have a greater calling and a type of immortality not in who we are as individuals alone, but how these individuals band together and pass down blessings to the next generation.

Social decay undermines this.  It tells people to shrug off the burdensome weight of social obligations for the 'freedom' of self-interest.

It tells us to live just for our sexual impulses and momentary desires.  It says there is no future, so drink all you want and take off your clothes in front of any camera, because there are really no consequences because there is nothing other than what you feel like having right now.  This is so intoxicating that otherwise rational and intelligent people will destroy themselves and their families, even their nations, for this thrill of self-indulgence.

Society says defer gratification until all societal needs are met, but the selfish hedonist rejects this as meaningless suffering.  Even 'social activists' can be guilty of the worst forms of self indulgence when they forget their most basic social obligations.

In my previous post, I juxtaposed recent laws in Russia with the almost exact opposite direction the USA is heading.  Laws are not enough.  Mere regulations cannot repair the damage of years of social decay.  Addiction is one of the symptoms of this social breakdown, and recovery is part of what the solution is to this cultural problem.

Some readers may think that I am being too hard on the 'gay movement,' or gays in general, but it is only because I reject the entire premise of such a separation of humanity.  I don't think humans benefit from partitioning themselves off from one another.  So, I reject the idea that there are 'gays.'  We are all humans, and we cannot classify ourselves as 'types' of humans.  By saying 'I am gay' you are setting yourself apart.  This makes it convenient for imposing special demands for one's self but harder to fit back in to society.  This is why there is so much social alienation over this topic.

And, I don't think that just because one person's experience of life is more difficult than other's is means that the whole system needs to be thrown out.  We cannot live according to the exceptions.  When we do, we are living according to a falsehood.  The exception proves the rule that than replacing it.

That some people feel a deep sense of alienation with their own gender identity and experienced distorted attractions to members of the same gender does not legitimate making the behavior 'socially acceptable' any more than a craving for a high legitimates all manner of drunkenness and substance abuse.  There comes a point where one must realize that while you may feel great from your indulgence, the rest of the world is waiting for you to get with the program and bear your load.

That means putting aside your desires and doing what is good for everyone.  It means getting sober and getting off the computer to meet real people... and not just people that you are going to 'use' for a quick 'high.'  Real relationships with give and take.

Sure, we all have anti-social temptations.  The question is whether we will continue to make them the norm and slowly destroy society, or we will start to go back to things we know have helped mankind survive from the Stone Age.

We can never 'stamp out' the fallen man, but we can put a lot of this in check by declaring what is deviant to be deviant.  One is not a hypocrite for calling one's temptations 'evil.'  One is a hypocrite when one says he has no temptations.

We must change in order to survive, or be willing to sacrifice not only ourselves, but our children and all future generations.