Response to Rap

My friend Bumblebee (not the Autobot) has a post on her blog about the effects of some types of music on society and its morals. A commenter, Mark, noted, quite innocently it seems, that she needed to prove absolutely that those (warped) morals were dysfunctional to society. My response is as follows:

Ironically, it isn't really all that modern, but the idea that modern thought surpasses the ideals and principles of our fathers and our father's fathers leads us to constantly assume that they must have been, wrong, prejudiced, patronizing, or simply self-righteous. "Modern" men and women want to go back and re-invent the wheel of morality because we think ourselves so much smarter than our predecessors. Must we truly? Must we "prove why that lifestyle is dysfunctional on absolute terms in relation to society as a whole?" as Mark says?

Not only do I not think we do, I propose it is impossible to do so. Not just for this case, mind you. Anything that demands to be "proved absolutely" breaks down. This mistake is referred to in philosophy and theology as "Evidentialism" and then, moving in the same thought line, "Classical Foundationalism" breaks forth.
These ideas state basically that all knowledge (beliefs or even morals) must be built upon prior proven knowledge and the line must go back ad infinitum. The flaw is that nothing can do such. Infinitely speaking, we must see that we can never even begin a debate. The solution to this is a "properly basic" or "legitimately basic" : a belief that is grounded in a foundation or *is* the foundation upon which we lay our claim.

Modern men and women, since the Enlightenment have usually rejected these basic beliefs (ie, the most fundamental of which is "There is a Truth and it is Absolute") because they dismissed all authority which claimed it - usually the Church or Government. The problem with that came when people who were not (are not) as intellectually inclined, spiritual or even wise started claiming "truths" for themselves outright - as the saying goes, "Modern man will stand for anything - except a woman on the bus." In claiming themselves right, without properly understanding the classical, legitimately basic beliefs, and without following their own rules of even proving absolutely that what they said was acceptable (because they couldn't), they shot themselves in the foot. And then sang about it and told us to do the same.

What all this leads us to is this. That the common man (and let us not be fooled into thinking we aren't common, we are) makes his own rules, and sings about it. Those willing to listen are dragged on in the flood that music and culture produce, and lastly, sadly, have been looking at the wrong "American Idol" for so long that they don't recognize the Truth nor Wisdom (nor real talent...) when He comes. Traditions are swept away simply because they are old.

Morals don't die of old age, men do. Morals, speaking from a socio-anthropological standpoint, are proved and secured with age. People who give us "new morals" are usually nutcases. Therefore I see Bumblebee's point in the remarks about society and the music that relate to it. I do not think she must explain why some morals are properly basic to an enduring society every time one writes about it - let's assume our readers are somewhat educated, and if they didn't understand it in school, they won't get it here either and no discussion can really ever be had to begin with. (run-on sentence. sorry.)

Do I think it bad to be able to speak or sing one's mind? No. Do I believe things should censured? I hate to say,"yes" so I say no, but I believe the basic foundation handed down through our fathers (or Uncle Ben's) that with Power comes Responsibility. With Freedom comes the weight of bearing our brothers and sisters burdens along with us and the responsibility we must take - not share - of the Freedoms of our own Tongue. Much more concisely, be careful what we say, it does have repercussions. Loose lips sink ships, and that not just in wartime.

Is sex outside the marriage good? No. Do I have to prove it to make my point? No. I could. But Bumblebee doesn't have to dispute that. People need to be educated, especially learning their history and literature - then they would have already heard those solid arguments for proper Marriage, sexual relations and fundamental morality (though I completely understand that the spiritually blind will never see any truth shoved under their noses). But then again, learning one's history is often disregarded because, well, those people are old, of neolithic mind and, honestly, dead. What does it matter what they said?

Hurmph. "Modern Man."