Everything on the news right now is Elliot Spitzer and his sex scandal involvement with the Emperor’s Club prostitution ring. Rightfully so, it’s big news when the governor of New York, one of the largest states in the union, resigns for something perceived as morally wrong. But, now you have a movement of people, the same ones that stuck up for Bill Clinton, voicing their opinion that this shouldn’t affect his political career. What Governor Spitzer does behind closed doors is his business. If he wants to destroy his personal life, go ahead. That is the attitude of some people in this country. And my question is this: Is this the voice of the Millenial generation or is it the voice of a handful of libertarian thinkers that span across multiple generations?
My parents got divorced when I was in middle school, and many of my other friends were part of a broken family. The Baby Boomer generation had quite an impact on the skyrocketing divorce rate. Some of it was a lack of morality and some of it was just the unwillingness to take marital vows seriously. We’ve grown up watching some of the most prominent Baby Boomers in this country rocked by scandals. We all remember President Clinton and his issues, the Enron meltdown, numerous celebrity scandals, and the list goes on. We grow up watching people our parent’s age go through scandal after scandal. When I was in high school, I thought to myself, “I’m going to pick a girl that I know I want to spend the rest of my life with”, because I saw how divorce affected my parents, their personal lives, and my life. It’s not fun, and I’m sure the entire world knowing that you slept with a prostitute and wanted her to do kinky sex acts, isn’t fun either.
The few people that are sticking up for Spitzer will say that it’s not our place to judge him. This is an extremely post-modern idea. The idea that we should only worry about ourselves, not care if someone decides to destroy their life before our very eyes, and only do what’s right for YOU is the mantra of post-modern thought. The shift of thought from a community of citizens to the egocentric idea of looking out for number one has invaded our culture over the past 50 years.
It’s no wonder that Barack Obama is a popular candidate for the Millenial Generation. The Millenial Generation is a generation of change. We want to change the way things work, the way people think, the way government runs this country, the way we work in society, and the way we gather information. We want to change this country to fit the changes that are occurring at an exponential pace due to technology and innovation. It doesn’t surprise me that a candidate with a campaign of “change” whether or not he’s given any insight as to how he’s going to make changes, is a popular candidate to young people. So, I am curious to know if this generation of change is ready to change the course of morality. Are we ready to put the idea back into our culture that morality and a moral code is real. Are we ready to embrace morality as a part of our everyday lives and live by the golden rule of treating others as we would also wanted to be treated? Or, will we continue to follow the path of thought that says that morality is a dying trend fading away with its out-dated set of rules and regulations.
The fact that we become so outraged by political sex scandals and corporate greed scandals is because of the existence of a moral code that exists outside of us and our culture. The question is not if a moral code exists, but will we embrace it or find a way to justify that it’s not really there. My hope is that our generation will stand for a change in the idea of being faithful to our partners, maintaining honesty at work, treating others with the respect we want others to give us, and following a moral code that makes us more productive members of our society. The change rests with us, because we will be the next governers, presidents, CEOs, husbands, wives, celebrities, attorneys, CPAs, and doctors of this society. The only question is whether we will continue down a post-modern way of thought that says morality is what you make of it or embrace the moral code that has governed our society for hundreds of years.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Rebecca / Modite // Mar 13, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Politicians cheating on their wives is rampant. I mean it’s so well accepted, that many politicians can go to functions with their mistress, and no one will bother them. Anyone that doesn’t know this isn’t being honest.
I honestly think that we’re all doing the best we can, and politicians shouldn’t be judged for the imperfections. They are human like the rest of us, and will learn from their mistakes.
The reason people are up in a huff regarding Spitzer is because he made his career around ethics and morality. Which makes his actions incredibly stupid. But is it really all that big of a surprise? People attack what scares them most. Spitzer was probably attacking the immoral because he feared that within himself.
I don’t know the answer, but it’s interesting to think about… thanks!
2 Mark // Mar 16, 2008 at 6:03 pm
Phrases like ‘Moral Code’ are a bit scary…As ‘morals’ are a thing that changes by degrees through time, and by culture and by sheer histrionics. You mention a ‘moral code’ that has been followed for ‘hundreds of years’? What exactly? Slavery up to the 1860’s? Child labor into the 1920’s in the West and still going on today in much of the world? Women not being allowed to vote? Is that one of those moral codes we have been following? How about not extending equal rights to minority communities or deciding that same sex couples can’t be married?
You state - “…down a post-modern way of thought that says morality is what you make of it or embrace the moral code that has governed our society for hundreds of years.”
Post modern? When exactly was the pre modern code of ethics that people didn’t cheat or divorce? That’s part of history I am not aware of. Perhaps having a more mature POV of the world and understanding that people are motivated by a mix of urges and desires , and that trying to apply a universal moral code outside of Constitutional law is best left to dictators and theocracies (See hard-liners in Iran who are always deciding the MORAL way to act). I think it better to practice forgiveness and understanding instead of expecting lead on a moral crusade, or reflect back to notions of a ‘moral time’ in history that never existed.
3 Erik Folgate // Mar 17, 2008 at 7:27 pm
you’ve missed my point, Mark. I’m talking about basic morals such as cheating, lying, adultery, stealing, things that we have the chance to engage in or not engage in every day. Slavery, women’s rights, and child labor laws ARE moral issues that have been contested in history. Just because it was accepted to have slaves, doesn’t mean that it was right and it doesn’t as mean that everyone during that time thought that slavery was acceptable.
It sounds like your moral philosophy is that society and culture creates morality. I don’t believe that. I believe it was set on this earth be a higher power and it exists outside of any one human.
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