Why I clicked the link at this post at Feministe I don't know. I knew it went to National Review Online, specifically to a rant by Victor Davis Hanson about how our world is going to hell in a smart car because . . . Actually, after reading Hanson's thingy, I'm still not quite sure what he's on about. He's upset that fake sex in film is OK but real sexual harassment is now bad. He's upset that birth-control is available for girls and women who are sexually active, but wished our military leaders actually followed the UCMJ, which makes it a dischargeable offense to commit adultery? Apparently, some of that traditional morality included winking and smiling at some folk's marital indiscretions.
Hanson seems to be whining and moaning that things are different. Well, sure they are. In some ways they're worse. In other ways, they're better. We haven't eliminated the things that are bad; what we have done is registered our social displeasure at certain behaviors, such as harassing women in the work place, while recognizing certain other realities as in need of a certain kind of intervention, i.e., that girls sometimes get pregnant and are in need of emergency contraception. This help the girls and young women, it helps society - they would be pregnant whether the emergency contraception was available or not; making it available is the whole ounce of prevention thing - and it demonstrates that we are, if nothing else, a grudgingly compassionate society toward some in need.
If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Hanson is upset that some people who had an expectation of a certain kind of social deference no longer do. Isn't that . . . could it be . . . is Hanson writing about a sense of . . . entitlement?
How silly of me. Of course he is.
I have said it before and I will say it again. Despite the many things wrong in our world, in many ways our times are better, with more people willing to work to make it even better than it is, than any other historical moment. These are good things. The folks moving forward can look at the Victor Davis Hansons of the world, sitting in the corner holding their breath until they turn blue, and feel sad they cannot celebrate the good things about our place and time. There's also pointing and laughing involved, and that's OK, too.
Hanson seems to be whining and moaning that things are different. Well, sure they are. In some ways they're worse. In other ways, they're better. We haven't eliminated the things that are bad; what we have done is registered our social displeasure at certain behaviors, such as harassing women in the work place, while recognizing certain other realities as in need of a certain kind of intervention, i.e., that girls sometimes get pregnant and are in need of emergency contraception. This help the girls and young women, it helps society - they would be pregnant whether the emergency contraception was available or not; making it available is the whole ounce of prevention thing - and it demonstrates that we are, if nothing else, a grudgingly compassionate society toward some in need.
If I didn't know better, I'd swear that Hanson is upset that some people who had an expectation of a certain kind of social deference no longer do. Isn't that . . . could it be . . . is Hanson writing about a sense of . . . entitlement?
How silly of me. Of course he is.
I have said it before and I will say it again. Despite the many things wrong in our world, in many ways our times are better, with more people willing to work to make it even better than it is, than any other historical moment. These are good things. The folks moving forward can look at the Victor Davis Hansons of the world, sitting in the corner holding their breath until they turn blue, and feel sad they cannot celebrate the good things about our place and time. There's also pointing and laughing involved, and that's OK, too.
