Kids and dogs are alike in many ways. One of these ways happens to be that both kids and dogs do things to see what they can get away with. They don’t know where the line is, so they do things until Mom and Dad say, “No!” In a familial environment, families get the types and amounts of bad behavior they tolerate, both from the kids and the dog.
In broader society, the reality is much the same. Sure, in broader society, people are more likely to do things they shouldn’t because of defiance more often than because of ignorance; but, ultimately, the outcome is the same. Just as a family gets the types and amounts of bad behavior they tolerate, a society gets the types and amounts of depravity it tolerates.
Both what constitutes depravity and, as a result, the level of tolerance afforded to the depraved behavior rely upon the prevailing moral framework of the society. In more traditional societies, where religion undergirds everything and the society is pleased that that is so, the view of what constitutes depravity is, unsurprisingly, much more traditional. For instance, behaviors such as homosexual activity or mass promiscuity are frowned upon in these types of societies. In more open and liberal societies, where religion is less relevant and morality is significantly more individualistic, situational, and/or societally utilitarian, what constitutes depravity is not more open-minded and tolerant, but rather, the inverse of the traditional framework. For instance, considering promiscuity to be depraved is repressive depravity according to the moral framework of this type of society.
So, why does this matter? It matters because Americans today are in a unique position to look back and reflect on the results of us going from the former to the latter. That’s what I want to do with this piece. I want to attempt to walk through—albeit briefly—how depravity evolves in society.
The process appears to go a little something like this:
Step 1: Depravity is tolerated.
In this Step, the depraved behavior is introduced into society. One of two things typically happens. Society either outright rejects the depravity, like they did with the MAPs (actual freaking pedophiles) thing earlier this decade, or everyone essentially stands around looking at each other, waiting for a backlash that never really comes. When the latter happens, the depravity is allowed to stay, and society is now fully on the path towards Step 2.
Step 2: Depravity is normalized.
In this step, depraved behaviors achieve more staying power in society, not because society approves of the behavior at large, but because of the increased frequency of the behavior. That increased frequency is the key because it represents new societal tolerance of the depravity. The ethos of this Step is essentially, “It’s not great, but it’s going to happen, and we can’t stop it.”
That ethos represents normalization. Society sees enough of the behavior that it’s not considered too weird to be completely impermissible. And because the behavior has become normalized, to do away with it would be taking away a “freedom,” which is obviously a touchy subject for Americans.
Porn is what sticks out in my mind as a perfect example of a Step 2 behavior. Most Americans don’t feel that porn is an inarguably positive feature of modern society, but they don’t truly oppose it either because it is so pervasive. Naked people and sexualized content are unavoidable nowadays.
But depravity doesn’t stop at normalization. It keeps further entrenching itself into society.
Step 3: Depravity is accepted.
In this Step, behaviors have not only been tolerated by society; they have been normalized to the point that society signs off on them with minor regulations. The ethos of this Step is essentially, “It’s going to happen, and that’s okay.”
Marijuana use fits into Step 3 better than probably any other behavior. For better or worse—I think for the worse, but whatever—we’ve gotten to the point where people using marijuana is considered okay. It’s almost viewed on the same level as people drinking alcohol at this point. This means marijuana isn’t going anywhere. Its status in society is safe.
And its status is safe because, at Step 3, there’s enough organic societal acceptance of the behavior to ensure that safety. As far as genuine societal acceptance is concerned, Step 3 is the end of the road. But it’s not the end of the road outright.
Step 4: Depravity is embraced and encouraged.
Now we’ve reached the level of programming, conditioning, and social engineering.
In this Step, the depravity is more the result of social engineering from on high. The social engineering aspect of this Step is a necessity because not enough people engage in the behavior for it to have a chance to become normalized and accepted organically. So the ethos for this Step is, “It’s going to happen a little, but it should happen more.”
Anything related to the trans issue fits into Step 4. The transgenderism push is the perfect example of social engineering. Actual gender dysphoria is incredibly rare, too rare for transgenderism to ever be an organic societal phenomenon. And yet, it has become so. How did this happen? Well, when you have a super niche issue become so pervasively mainstream, it means the people who have the ability to affect mainstream opinion are propping the issue up.
So what has been the result of pushing transgenderism on American society? Well, we now have kids at drag shows and drag queen story time at the elementary school library. Oh, and we’ve chopped the breasts and penises off of far too many teenage girls and boys, all while the pharmaceutical industry has made ludicrous amounts of money from producing and selling the hormone blockers that have been pumped into those same American kids. Clearly, we’re doing so incredibly well.
Fortunately, there is hope. The Step 4 issue of transgenderism seems to be heading back to where it belongs, back to the abyss. The current administration has banned transgenderism in the military and, more importantly, declared there to be only two genders. In other words, the people with power have shut down the people who have the ability to affect public opinion on an issue by using said power to shut the issue down as far as the former group is concerned.
And that relationship between government power and opinion-shaping power is what Step 4 hinges on. When that relationship is broken, the Step 4 issue falls to the wayside; the depravity largely fades away from the societal mainstream.
Unfortunately, depravity as a force still remains in society, at all four levels, and it must be dealt with. I suppose that’s part of the tragedy of the human condition.