The World’s Slow Stain
This was one of St. Catherine of Genoa’s (pictured) greatest fears - she knew by experience its insipid corrosion. I doubt if anyone can write about it enough.
“Shamelessness has become acceptable among us and is creating such moral devastation that a concerted effort is being made to try to stem a tide of obscenity.” - Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand
At “Tea At Trininon” Elena Maria Vidal posted a link to Dr. Alice Von Hildebrand’s essay in the New Oxford Review concerning language. The corruption of language, or rather its decline, segues well with the erosion of morals that has subtly occurred during the 20th century.
In my post concerning Fraternal Correction, I mentioned how a friend, when charitably bringing to my attention my own tendency to compromise with contemporary values, awakened me to a fresh understanding of the accumulated tarnish due to the world’s slow stain.
My friend showed me an ad in a magazine of a woman posed provocatively in a swim suit. He suggested to me it was soft porn. “It is not!” I insisted. I asserted we see this stuff all over media, and I called him a prude. Nevertheless, as the discussion continued, I realized he was right. In the 1950’s such ‘bare-naked ladies’ photos would have been considered pornographic, and currently these images are mainstream.
Total nudity is accepted in film, partial nudity is acceptable on television. Fashion has degenerated to street walker levels, and the pop music industry wallows in filth. Dr. Von Hildebrand points to the decline of language, fully aware that the decline coincides with the general moral decline of Western civilization. I don’t think I’m overstating this at all.
“One of the most striking phenomena of the society in which we live is that many of us have lost the sense of the propriety — and impropriety — of words…We live in a democratic age. Whatever the benefits and merits of democracy, it often results in a leveling down, a putting of all things on one and the same level. This is deadly in our religious life.” - Dr. Von Hildebrand
I have to believe this is in direct correlation to media and entertainment. All of us are affected by it. Talk shows from the 1980′ on, exposed us to average people discussing personal issues in their lives that would never have been talked about in polite company in the past. Sitcoms like “Cheers,” ”Ellen,” “Friends,” “Will and Grace,” and more currently, “Desperate Housewives” consistently push the envelope. We all know this, others have decried the amoral character of the entertainment industry for decades, so I’m not going to carry on about it here.
I repeated yesterday what the Popes have said, that the modern world lacks a sense of sin. Having said that, I still believe a sense of sin exists on some level in most people’s consciences. What is truly lacking is a sense of shame. Many are no longer ashamed of their sins. Shame isn’t cool. Presidents justify lying, women and men exalt in their promiscuous behavior. Remember last year when George Michael defiantly defended his night-time cruising as something gay people do? There is no shame - if anyone expresses shame, they are encouraged to get over it. It seems the only thing to be ashamed of is shame itself.
Dr. Von Hildebrand continues in her essay; “Some time ago I had a talk with the head of a college in Switzerland. Although the students there came from “good families,” he told me that he could not get used to the fact that the girls use a language of such coarseness that, years ago, their words would have made soldiers blush. They no longer “felt” that these words betray an inner attitude totally devoid of the most elementary feeling of “shame.” How right Jeremiah was when he lamented the fact that people “are not at all ashamed, they know not how to blush” (6:15).” - New Oxford Review.
The world’s slow stain is a very real thing, infecting nearly everyone bombarded by the secular, anti-Christian propaganda our culture is saturated with. Our morals and values are easily compromised by repeated exposure to what is otherwise improper. I believe we need to be vigilant and prayerful, without becoming prudes or puritans, elevating our hearts and minds above the vulgarity so omnipresent in our culture.
Dr. Von Hildebrand states it much better than I do in her conclusion: “What I am advocating is not a return to prudery, Jansenism, or Puritanism. It is the recognition that there are things that should make us blush. Woe to those who no longer know how to blush. Let us learn to chastise our vocabulary so that it produces heavenly music.” - New Oxford Review
February 5th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
Judie Brown, American Life League, had a posting that clearly illustrates Planned Parenthood certainly doesn’t want the young ones to blush too much … their new project is “The Pleasure Project”
February 7th, 2007 at 3:54 pm
I thought Dr Hildebrand’s point about some of the chastity programs as being so graphically provocative so as to have the opposite effect on young people. There must be a truthful but modest way to explain such matters.