All It Takes Is For Good Men To Do Nothing

I read something today that rubbed me the wrong way. Actually, several somethings.
The first was a comment from at friend at his own site on a thread about a dope stoopid enough to defend King Elliot of the DroppedTrou. I respect this person. A lot. His example is one a few that actually got me started blogging. I know from his posts and conversations with him that he has a strong belief in God, and the Bible. This is what made the comment even more irritating to me. The gist of it was that while laws preventing prostitution should be obeyed, even if they are stupid. I could have misread it, I could have misunderstood it, but frankly, it has left me a little rankled. King Elliot's troubles have brought the discussions of prostitution to the national forefront, but even for some of the public recognition of the heartache and shame that his activities have brought to his wife, and daughters, there seems to be little recognition of the inherent evil that prostitution represents. The eight hundred pound elephant in the room is the connection between the damage to innocents and the family in general that the toleration of such practice causes. I can't imagine that there are a whole lot of fathers in the world who get all warm and tingly at the thought of their little girls growing up to sleep with men for money. I have sons, so the dynamic is not quite the same, but still I want better for them and from them. The current national focus dissects the process of modern day prostitution, and the types of clients who frequent the business, as well as the glamour and money that some women can make. What is missing from this discussion is the downside, and the destruction that some the those involved in the practice wreck on other people in their lives. The fact that Mrs. Spitzer is still standing by King Elliot, and according to some reports, actually encouraged him to attempt to remain in office, despite other reports that he has been frequenting call-girls for a while, and engaging in sexual behavior that puts not only him at risk, but her too, does not help to spark a debate in which we recognize the practice for what it is: evil.
Instead, we get interviews with former practitioners who, contrary to expressing regret about their choices, instead discuss the more glamorous elements, improbable results, and celebrate the fact that their sentence was short and their book is coming soon. The worst part? The fact that she seems to think that sleeping with married men helped to prevent them from having affairs and thus ruining their marriages. What? What? Last time I looked, infidelity was infidelity, whether it is an affair lasting a span of months, years, or sleeping with a prostitute, even just once.

The world we live in is a marvelous place. We can be in touch with anyone, anywhere on the planet, instantaneously. A few minutes at a computer with a search engine can reveal a multitude of information that used to take hours to ferret out in the library. We can meet and get to know people anywhere in the world without ever meeting them in person. It has unquestionably improved our quality of life. Unfortunately, it has also conditioned us for instant gratification, and instilled the belief that no one will know what we do. However, it also allows things that might not otherwise be encountered to creep into our lives. Our morals, and ultimately our souls will suffer a death of a thousand cuts. Porn is free and available to anyone with a computer. We are constantly bombarded by images and opinions that foment and feed disaffections in our lives, driving wedges where none previously existed. We start to compromise with the things we know are wrong, until we reach the point where we may no longer recognize ourselves. At the same time, the growing emptiness within us grows, driving us for more, and better. Is it any wonder that under such circumstances that as a society, we fail to take such trivial matters as wedding vows seriously. We allow the messages to make us believe that our gratification of immediate lusts is equivalent to satisfaction as a person, despite the fact that the feeding of such urges never leads us to satiation. And when we don't get what we want in our commitments, despite the fact that our ininitition-driven quests often correspond to our own lack of effort and participation, it is simply too easy to unilaterally proclaim that the commitment is dead, the pact void, and that we are entitled to kill something that has a life of its own, regardless of our own neglect and inattention to it.

I feel somewhat betrayed today. I feel betrayed about eyes that know the truth, but just can't see. I feel betrayed by a media that is in love with the scintillation to the point that it ignores the corresponding destruction, and in its own way glorifies evil. These betrayals would make it so easy not to care, if we would only succumb to evil's relentless advance. I feel like we are losing this fight. It bothers me because it matters. And I think our adversary knows it. We have all manner of distraction, from the innocent to the prurient, and everywhere in between, and the troubles, blocks and stumbles that arise whenever individuals awaken to this threat. And for those readers who might say "Who is he to be on this high horse?", I know about many of these things from experience as much as study, so think of it less as a judgement than a call to action. If you dare.