Whither Decency
George Will and I disagree and many things. We share a deep love of baseball, but he tends to be a good bit more conservative than I am. But from time to time I really resonate with his writing. Such was the case with his columnat the end of the latest Newsweek, entitled "Now, Defining Decency Down".
He writes about the "absurd" explanantion Larry Craig gave for the collapse of his carrer as a Senator. My daughter's take on this kind of apology is, "do they think we're stupid?" (Wills also notes the "almost unfathomable" sadness in Craig's unraveling.) He comments as well on Mitt Romney's responce, which Wills dscribes as "devoid of human sympathy".
Wills has caustic comments to make about Alberto Gonzales' leave taking of the office of Attorney General. I have been amazed for some time that this man was retained in this critical position in our government. Wills says that Gonzales leaving demonstrated his unfitness for the office, especially his statement that his worst days as Attorney General would have been better than his father's best days. Wills: "This implicit disparagement of his father's life of responsibility andd self-sufficiency turns conservatism inside out. It is going to take conservatism a while to recuperate from becoming associated with such people".
In his last paragraph Wills talks of the issues around the 18 year old contestant in the Miss Teen South Carolina pagent. After describing what happened with her question, Wills says:
Although there was not a shred of news value in it, Fox News and CNN played the
tape of her mortification, and by last Friday YouTube''s presentation of it had generated
more than 10 million hits. The casual cruelty of publicizing her discomfort, and the
widespread entertainment pleasure derived from it, is evidence that standards of
decency are evolving in the wrong direction.
Reading this, I was convicted of our showing of this video in our office last week.
Wills is on to something in this column that is important for all of us. I am impressed that one would wrestle in such a forum with issues of decency and morality.
Jimmy
He writes about the "absurd" explanantion Larry Craig gave for the collapse of his carrer as a Senator. My daughter's take on this kind of apology is, "do they think we're stupid?" (Wills also notes the "almost unfathomable" sadness in Craig's unraveling.) He comments as well on Mitt Romney's responce, which Wills dscribes as "devoid of human sympathy".
Wills has caustic comments to make about Alberto Gonzales' leave taking of the office of Attorney General. I have been amazed for some time that this man was retained in this critical position in our government. Wills says that Gonzales leaving demonstrated his unfitness for the office, especially his statement that his worst days as Attorney General would have been better than his father's best days. Wills: "This implicit disparagement of his father's life of responsibility andd self-sufficiency turns conservatism inside out. It is going to take conservatism a while to recuperate from becoming associated with such people".
In his last paragraph Wills talks of the issues around the 18 year old contestant in the Miss Teen South Carolina pagent. After describing what happened with her question, Wills says:
Although there was not a shred of news value in it, Fox News and CNN played the
tape of her mortification, and by last Friday YouTube''s presentation of it had generated
more than 10 million hits. The casual cruelty of publicizing her discomfort, and the
widespread entertainment pleasure derived from it, is evidence that standards of
decency are evolving in the wrong direction.
Reading this, I was convicted of our showing of this video in our office last week.
Wills is on to something in this column that is important for all of us. I am impressed that one would wrestle in such a forum with issues of decency and morality.
Jimmy
posted by Jimmy at 9:03 AM
1 Comments:
I don't usually post on the blogs of people I don't know personally, but want to thank you for the post about George Wills. I'm also a pastor, an Atlanta native in exile in NY, who because she is married to a South Carolinian never misses an opportunity to poke fun at SC. I'm guilty of the same Miss Teen video abuse...
Thanks for your blogging, and for what sounds like a vibrant and faithful ministry in a city I still love and miss.
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