Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Where have all the flowers gone?

Growing up in the 60’s protest was part of my life. The songs of the great poet Dylan (not Thomas you …) were on our lips.

I mourn the demise of protest! It is not as if there are no injustices to protest today! Hell we are spoilt for choice!

So where is the flower of youth today? What has captured their attention that injustice is of less importance?



I could surmise that there has been an erosion of (forgive my use of the easy term) genuine Christian values. In the affluent west have we replaced morality with materialism? We have certainly become a more secular society.

Secularism has its merits, but it has had its unfortunate consequences. We no longer speak of a greater moral truth; rather we have replaced it with the ethic of self: “If it works for me that’s OK, as long as there is no direct harm for others”. The problem lies in “direct harm”. Perhaps it is the “now” society that blinds us of the consequence of our actions, perhaps we have perfected too cleaver a definition of “direct harm” - - sort of like “I did not have sex with ...” …. …. …. But then perhaps if our politicians had really got the message of the greater moral truth we would not have been protesting in the 60’s

5 comments:

BEAST FCD said...

If you wish to talk about the "morals of yesteryears", you might be sorely disappointed.

Fifty years ago, racism was very, very rife compared to today, and apartheid was still being enforced.

Stretch back to another fifty or odd years, we have slavery. And not to mention the world wars I and II that kill millions of people.

Stretch back a couple of centuries back, and we have the Inquisitions, witch hunts and what nots.

We have secularization of societies to thank for, as well as the Age of Enlightenment and Science. Without these elements, it is most likely that you would be sitting in a dinghy little hole with nothing but a candle and some sticks to play with. You can jolly well forget about the PC/laptop and every other luxury you own today.

Please do not tell me we are less moral today. That is hardly the case.

akakiwibear said...

I agree with you - what I morn is the lack of protest at the wrongs of today. I wondered though if when society set about abandonding its religion based code (the hypocrocy of which was the target of much of the 60's protects) little thought was given to what would replace it. The individualist egocentric society that has replaced it has little to recommend itself and has produced no better an outcome. I am not calling for a return to the past, but rather wondering what we shoulc seek for the future - but I have to say a common moral code (secular in nature is better than religion based) that balances responsibilities to the community with individual rights has a lot of appeal.

Anonymous said...

Hi Akakiwibear,

This same lament was put into the frame of a story in something I read at some point. (I read too much to keep it all in order!)

The author said we have lost the story. We used to see ourselves as being a part of something bigger; there was a story that we were a part of, and now we ourselves have become the story.

Beast,
I don't know you so I don't mean to be too bold here, but you might want to do an in depth study on the Enlightenment and see if you can identify the events and streams of thought that were its precursors.

Interesting blog, aka.

akakiwibear said...

Hi Jennifer,
Sorry it took me so long to welcome you.
I like your point that we have indeed become the story.

I wonder in centuries to come what this age will be called?

Is it still the "information" age, or have we entered the age of gullibility? An age where there is miss-information on a grand scale, where our education systems are dumbed down and where we are taught to accept the "facts".

I think your point would suggest that it be called the age of self, or would that be the self centred age?

Anonymous said...

Hi Akakiwibear,
I was surprised, and pleased, to see your name pop up on my old blog. I'm just a commenter now. :)

I read a book by Francis Schaeffer a while back called, "An Escape From Reason" that addresses this too.
He uses the changes evident in art to show the impact of philosophical thought on the mind of culture. He covers up to the 1970's I think. It's a little book but thorough for it's size.

Thank you for welcoming me to your blog!