This morning, between walking this dog and my thrice-weekly trip to the Fitness Center, I was exposed to three news items: (1) the Obama-Cheney exchange on security policy (WSJ); (2) Lymphoma-afflicted Daniel Hanson's abduction by his mother (CNN); and (3) "Cougars," the sobriquet for 40+ women who frequent bars trolling for young men, on the way to becoming a reality TV show (CNN).
I was gobsmacked** by the moral and ethical issues represented and the seemingly irresolvable dilemmas they represent. In the first instance, we loudly descry, condemn, and eschew "torture" of terrorists, the consequence of which may be saving thousands, even, in the case of the use of nuclear or biological materials, hundreds of thousands if lives. In the second instance, by creating the illusion of free choice, we support and applaud the coercion of children and adults into being tortured by chemotherapy on the possibility of saving one life, even at the cost significantly reducing the person's quality of life, and to make matters worse, issuing an arrest warrant for a parent who undoubtedly believes she is doing the "right thing for her child.". (See my prior post, "Evaluating Options," May 21, 2009).
What a pickle! If nothing else, we have become a society that is consistent in it's inconsistency.
The third instance confirms this observation. Predatory women out for sex are called "cougers," derided and laughed at. Predatory men trolling for sex are called "studs," and admired by their wimpy peers.
Is there a Stage 5 for cultural "cancers?"
**"Gobsmacked" - English slang for "unexpectedly stupendously, stunned"
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