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A Lot is Rotten in the "State of Denmark"
August 24, 2001
Sir/Madam,
Media reports last night suggest that a young woman was victim of a vicious and potentially murderous attack possibly because someone disagrees with the way in which she felt that fund-raising for a charitable cause ought to have been carried out.
If the attack on her, while driving home is indeed connected, we have reached a most dangerous level of intolerance in this society which anticipates disaster on a much larger scale.
Make no bones about it, the idea of "auctioning" off 'sexy people' in order to raise funds for whatever purpose is itself abhorent and deserves to be denounced.
However, it is not a problem of such nature as warrants harrassment of the organisers of the event, as has been reported, by anyone who claims to be defending women's or people's dignity. Nor does it warrant violent attacks against one who feels satisfied that such a spectacle is a good thing.
Why should anyone feel that such an activity is good or uplifting or useful? Well, for one thing it comes from the good ole USA. After all, we are awash with the decadent culture of American "values" 24 hours a day on our television screens if we purchase cable connections from one who is even hailed as a "good" minister of government.
Anyone watching so-called children's shows - cartoons and superhero stuff - cannot help but be amazed at the level of violence that pervades those shows which we make the steady diet of our next generation from their cradles.
Another aspect of this "great" culture of the New Empire is the commodification of everything including the human person and dignity. Awash with soap operas, talk shows and thrillers which portray human beings in the most degrading light, this culture promotes consumption of the human person as a mere commodity.
Witness the way that love is portrayed merely as sex and using other people for sexual gratification or economic gain as we can see in all of the soaps and in the so-called popular music.
Is it any wonder that a "Sexy and Sold" auction like others organised in the US before it was done here and is seen by some as a "good idea", as a useful way to educate the youth about cancer, very little of which was really accomplished in that direction?
Is it any wonder that raking in the paper (as the youth now fashionably call money) by any means possible without regard for respect for human dignity is believed to be useful once it is for a good cause?
This is all part of the idea that the end justifies the means, the idea of acting without social consciousness. Incidentally, isn't it the same idea that lies behind appointing or accepting appointments as government ministers of or by persons who were defeated at the polls?
So, why attack this possibly quite well-meaning young woman, rather than point out to her the folly of they way she has chosen? Why attack her and not the rotten culture that drove her and others to organise that despicable activity?
Those who chose to show their disagreement this way have now also descended into the cesspool of anti-democracy and raping the humanity of others that they may believe they uphold.
They, and all who respect our dignity as human beings and believe that no one should be subjected to abuse, including being used as sex objects, should be using this as an occasion to denounce the rotten culture which pervades our society and promote another culture opposed to it that engenders respect for people and their rights and which promotes the humanisation of our relations and our society in the face of the decay.
I say to Shelly Dass and the other organisers, you cannot defend what is indefensible.
At the same time, it is equally savagery to organise attacks against such a person merely because they have become trapped by a culture of debauchery. Among the people, we must learn the necessity for debate and action (why didn't the opponents organise a protest on the night or organise a fund-raiser of their own) in a way to raise our brothers and sisters out of the morass, rather than condemning them for being victims.
HOMEPAGE
Copyright © Clyde Weatherhead
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