Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Found: Source of All Those New Democrats”

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December 21, 2008

Found: Source of All Those New Democrats

Hatched by Dafydd

We've all been wondering -- oh, all right... I've been wondering -- whence came all those gazillions of Democratic voters who propelled the over-the-top Barack H. Obama over the top. Well, it appears that a new survey by the Josephson Institute of Ethics may have found part of the answer:

Teenagers lie. They cheat and steal, too. And they are doing it more often and more easily than ever.

That is the conclusion of the latest “Report Card on the Ethics of American Youth”, released this week by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, a partnership of educational and youth organizations. The institute conducted a random survey of 29,760 high school students earlier this year (as they have every two years since 1992) and found that the next generation of leaders have a somewhat casual relationship with the truth.

Among the findings:

30% of teenagers (35% of boys, 26% of girls) claim to have stolen something from a store in the past year.

42% (49% M, 36% F) said "they sometimes lie to save money;" I'm envisioning 14 year olds crouching down in front of the Mann theaters ticket office, and in a squeaky voice, insisting they're only 12. But in addition, 83% told their parents a lie about "something significant;" again I'm guessing, but I'd say about smoking, drinking, toking, or, er, going a little too far with their boyfriends or girlfriends.

64% -- nearly two-thirds! -- cheated on a test; 36% let their mice do the writing, turning in papers they downloaded off the internet. (Perhaps these are the future Joe Biden voters?)

And to make things worse (and even more confusing), a quarter of respondents confessed that they lied about "one or two" of the questions on this very survey! Of course, that begs the question: lied which way, to make themselves sound more honest and trustworthy, or more wicked cool?

What this survey, which shows a growing trend of falsity, cheating, and amorality, tells us is that we are not only raising yet another generation of kids without a functioning moral compass, but more threateningly, a generation of kids who haven't the slightest idea that there is a real world out there where lying, cheating, and stealing not only won't get you anywhere, it can destroy your life.

I wonder how this recklessness with the truth -- heck, recklessness even with the things they make up -- affects their romantic relationships, their friendships, their own self respect? How can a person honestly, deep down, respect himself if he knows he's a lying sack of offal?

Of course such truth-challenged, reality-denying kids would be much more likely to grow into Democrat-voting young adults; the Democratic Party is the party of fantasy, denial, and situational ethics. Naturally, not every Democrat is dishonest... but the contemporary Democratic Party rewards brazen dishonesty in a way that I don't believe any previous political party in the United States has done.

Heck, look who just got elected president... and how he did it.

I firmly believe this is the result of leftist government schools (followed, after a while, by secular private and even religious schools) ceasing to teach ethics, civics, or even basic right and wrong, for fear of trampling on some kid's "right" to choose his own "values." (For that matter, even the substitution of "values," a content-neutral term, for "virtues," which implies a fixed moral code, is a terrible symptom of the disease of nihilism.)

My worthy co-conspirator in a number of projects, Brad Linaweaver, has recently coined a neologism to describe another aspect of this; he refers to members of ELF, ALF, PETA, and other such eco-nut radical activist groups as "econihilists;" I believe he defines the term to mean self-identified ecologists who are so anti-human and pro-nature that they actually ache to see the entire human race destroyed, to make room for the more "moral" species -- spotted owls, blue whales, blue-green algae, Ebola viruses, and the like. I don't think they would put it exactly that way, but that's the gist of their practical philosophy, such as it is.

Both the econihilists and the teens in the Josephson Institute's survey seem to share a deep loathing of the human race... which I can only conclude comes from a deep inner loathing of themselves. Paradoxically, I believe this self-loathing stems from the self-inflicted soul-wound of lying, cheating, and stealing; it is both cause and effect.

By being afraid to tell kids that there is a real right and a real wrong -- that some moral codes are absolute, not subject to the whim of the actor -- we may be sowing the seeds of our species' own destruction.

Perhaps it's time to tell the leftists running the nation's schools to go take a long walk on a short shrift. In my political manifesto, I shall declare that it's time for the GOP, marginally better on absolute morality than the Democrats, to seize the schools back from the dark side... "for the sake of the children." It's one of several strategic goals that the Republicans must pursue with vigor, making the case without compromise, now that we're completely cut out of the legislative and executive power.

To paraphrase Janis Joplin, "Political freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, December 21, 2008, at the time of 6:07 AM

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Comments

The following hissed in response by: Dishman

I prefer to call them eco-ghouls.

If self-loathing is the thing, let's go all-in.

The above hissed in response by: Dishman at December 21, 2008 2:07 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dishman

I think there are more elements/paths of formation as well. The following is just a framework, and probably requires some effort by the reader to flesh out and understand.

Competition is instinctive. People still want to compete, at least until they've mated. Those who don't fail, as I have personally experienced.

Those who curtail their breeding see others failing to do the same. That can be viewed as "cheating". One way to remain competitive is for the "cheaters" to die.

Competitive urges are not "politically correct". One way to minimize cognitive dissonance is to wrap that in a notion that that competition must be suppressed.

Further minimizing cognitive dissonance, ideas and notions that lead to the death of "cheaters" are called good things.

In this manner, the desire for the death of others is directly tied to sexual urges. I believe "ghoul" is an appropriate way to describe this.

The above hissed in response by: Dishman at December 21, 2008 2:56 PM

The following hissed in response by: Karmi

It’s a mess alright. Lying, cheating, and stealing are not new, e.g. the Communist dogma and the much older Abrahamic Religions’ dogma.

Great post and topic, BTW…

The above hissed in response by: Karmi at December 22, 2008 10:12 AM

The following hissed in response by: AMR

My 4 children were raised in an old fashioned manner to be honest and to keep your word. 2 of the 4 who are veterans have or will marry fellow veterans who share their character traits and my youngest son is having serious problems finding a lady that can handle someone with character and integrity. He admits that his generation lacks many positive character traits and he deals with that daily as a manager of a recreational facility. But when we have a society with few consequences and many excuses for improper behavior, what else should we expect. My daughter, who is much more peer oriented, is raising children such that I have a hard time accepting their behavior and as a result I am the mean grandfather. Such is life.

The above hissed in response by: AMR at December 22, 2008 11:11 AM

The following hissed in response by: Jay Tea

Ahem.

I dunno if you deliberately "stole" the credit from Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, but they wrote "Me And Bobby McGee."

I know that because I've often used the same line in arguing in favor of capitol punishment.

The above hissed in response by: Jay Tea at December 22, 2008 3:12 PM

The following hissed in response by: Bart Johnson

Remember - you are testing government-taught (indoctrinated) teenagers.
These are people who probably thought you said "awful" instead of "offal"

The above hissed in response by: Bart Johnson at December 22, 2008 11:14 PM

The following hissed in response by: UNRR

This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 12/23/2008, at The Unreligious Right

The above hissed in response by: UNRR at December 23, 2008 4:38 AM

The following hissed in response by: Hal

I think the cause of such teen shenanigans might be rooted in the coddling their generation has seen.

Think about it. From the moment they stepped into the world, they have been told that they are at the center of it; that they are so unique, special, and wonderful that they can do anything they want and that nothing is beyond their grasp.

Is it any wonder, then, that when something they desire is out of normal reach, they go to more "extraordinary" measures to attain it? Combined with the moral ambiguity you described, Dafyyd, and I fear what they'll look like in the next 10 years.

The above hissed in response by: Hal at December 23, 2008 7:26 AM

The following hissed in response by: brutepcm

A few years ago I told the Missus that liberalism was a death cult and she told me I needed mental help. Since then I have been showing her the evidence and she is coming around. They aren't about "choice", the "right to die" and "global warming". They are about abortion, euthanasia, and mass suicide.
Take any of their arguments to its logical conclusion and you get the same results. Women are happier without husbands (Don't reproduce) or children.(Kill the children) Homosexuality is a viable choice.(Don't even think of reproducing) Children are happier without the burden of aging parents. (Kill the old) If you are seriously ill, society is better off without you. (Kill the sick) If you are successful, it is because you have exploited others and raped Mother Earth. (Eat the rich)Your only hope of redemption is to give it all back and die.(Kill yourself)
Can you say "nihilism"? That's right. I thought you could.
Two words folks-Home School

The above hissed in response by: brutepcm at December 24, 2008 12:16 AM