As the ridiculous and seedy drama of NY Congressman Anthony Weiner unfolds several random thoughts have been coming to mind in no particular order. If you have missed all the excitement, Weiner is the congressman who has apparently been pretty busy for several months now sending suggestive and explicit texts and photos to a host of females, some of who may have been teens. Weiner is married and his wife is several months into a pregnancy.
First, and maybe most importantly, it amazes me how rapidly the standard of”common decency” can diminish in a culture. A survey done a few days ago suggested that by almost a two to one margin, Weiner’s constituents do not want him to resign. Not too many years ago this kind of behavior would have been cause to go into hiding in abject shame and hope that the law was not coming after you… (not to mention angry husbands and parents); but today it is a path to a little media frenzied infamy, followed by a trip to rehab, then a glorious return as a victim of poor parenting or a sex addiction or whatever the excuse de jour may be. Is it possible that our “culture wars” have left us so cynical and jaded that we “stick with our own” even if our own are scum? Is that what drives so many in Weiner’s New York district to stand by their man?
Another random thought on the matter… I think Weiner’s fall (and I do believe that ultimately the firestorm will be so great he will have to call it quits); highlights a general truth about social media of which all of us should take note. There is simply something about Twitter, Facebook, and its predecessors, texting and email that deceives us. We believe somehow we are insulated from the “old” consequences of bad behavior. I am not really sure why, but we put things into the digi-verse that we would never hand to or directly say to someone. We are more blunt, more crude, more flirtatious, unrestrained, and the endgame is always eventually hurt, broken relationships, and embarrassment. Maybe there is a worthwhile lesson to us all in this.
The Scriptures say in Eph 5:15 “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
Maybe somewhere along the way we forgot “what the Lord’s will” was. Or we fooled ourselves into believing that it does not apply under the cover of our fun new technologies. He told us to “be holy,” and then gave us both the means and the motivation to carry it out, when he told us “for I am Holy.”
The truth shall set you free
J Beckett