Civil Discourse: Part 2

Let's continue the discussion shall we? This one touches on the notion of how society praises thieves, hoodlums and skanks.

The author of this comment found on link in previous post:

--"...Manners are the outward and visible sign of an inward and justifiable aspiration. We mimic those whom we admire in hopes of achieving their station. Only in that sense does the trickle-down theory actually work. There are only two explanations for the manners meltdown:

The well-mannered are not admirable.
The well-mannered are not really in charge.
In either case, they will fail to inspire polite behavior..."

"What's not to love? Contemporary pop culture is full of celebrities and celebutantes who have made it big on bad behavior...."

On average, the two points made above about the well-mannered I believe to be accurate.

Years ago, an internet marketer suggested a plan to break copyright laws in order to sell a product. To him, this was the only way to attract attention. Society LOVES people who break rules. He's absolutely right.

Last year, Hockey Night in Canada fell all over itself to talk to Snoop Dogg (a known felon.) No kidding, people probably did want to see him and the NHL is starved for attention it doesn't matter who it comes from. In 2004, naughty P. Diddy Puff Sean Combs campaigned telling people to vote. South Park saw through the shallowness depicting Diddy as a violent narcissist in "Douche and Turd." Of course, Diddy offsets his image (it's all about marketing and spinning the image just like a politician) by going on Oprah raises money for kids in a marathon and all is forgiven and forgotten. Aw.

Has anyone figured out how the Simpson sisters have carved out a career? Paris Hilton? You MUST be original we're told! My...you know what.

This sort of stuff falls into other areas like politics when we romanticize characters Castro and Che. By my estimation, these people are able to charm their way through their own crud.

Bah. I sometimes wonder about business people and leaders who join charities. I get the uncomfortable feeling that some are out to just pad their resumes. Unfair? Yeah. There are exceptions for sure. Cynical? Perhaps. More skeptical. Does altruism exist? Is unconditional possible?

And on and on the charade goes. To be sure they're not the only ones.

Politeness, honesty, quiet resolve, inner fortitude etc. - these are not virtues and traits marketable in pop culture. And it's odd that artists are so easily given to those that stand on the opposite side of this track. Vices sell.

Does this mean some criminals weren't necessarily bad or evil? No. But they did break the law. Should the law be compassionate sometimes? Absolutely. However, we seem to be all too ready to accept bad behavior carte blanche.

"...The few virtues he had, which would have ensured him no praise if he had been an honest man have been blazoned forth by popular renown during seven successive centuries, and will never be forgotten while the English tongue endures." Charles Mackay on Robin Hood in Popular delusions and the madness of crowds.

More from Mackay in chapter, "Popular admiration of great thieves:"

"...In fact, the theater, which can only expect to prosper, in a pecuniary sense, by pandering to the tastes of the people, continually recurs to the annals of thieves and banditti for its most favorite heroes."

The proverbial give people what they want and let 'em eat cake! While we're at it...

"Lord Byron, with his soliloquising, high-soul thieves, has, in a slight degree, perverted the taste of the juvenile rhymers of his country."

"Poets, too, without doing mischief, may sing of such heroes when they please wakening our sympathies for the sad fate of...(insert villain of your choice.)"

"If, by the music of their sweet rhymes, they can convince the world that such heroes are but mistaken philosophers, born a few ages too late, and have both a theoretical and practical love for the world may perhaps become wiser, and consent to to some better distribution of its good things, by means of which thieves may become reconciled to the age, and the age to them. The probability, however, seems to be that the charmers will charm in vain, charm they ever so wisely.

Amen.