11 Comments
Sep 26Liked by Simon O'Connor

If we accept there is a Creator, Rom 1:20, then there are Universal Laws & Principles that guide, develop, constrain & protect Creation, including humans!

Therefore, discipline, correction & guiding/judging is all par for the course where we have a STANDARD established by God & His Word! Jn 12:47-50, Jn 14:21-24

Do we not correct a child playing with matches, on the road, or in any other potentially harmful situation!

We live in a world of 'Cause & Effect' with consequences for whatever we DO! Time, history & salutary lessons have also taught us what is 'best behaviour & practice' on top of 'revelation' & receiving God's Word!

Of course there is a 'stigma' about 'paedophilia; it's just plain WRONG according to any metric we care to use!

Maybe murdering people should be 'stigma free' & any of the other Ten Commandments! On the same basis we could justify Genocide as some DO!

Conservatives have already acquiesced, given ground on so many other 'moral imperatives' that we are losing our 'civil society' as we embrace secular humanism, immorality, cultural Marxism, compromise in the name of 'tolerance', & the rest of Pandora's Box!

We are either for God's 'Worldview' or we are against it! Therefore it is beholden on those who KNOW God or believe in a 'moral worldview', to 'STAND FIRM & TAKE ACTION'! Dan 11:32, Rom 2:13, James 2:14-26, Rev 21:7, or 'consequently' Rev 21:8, Mt 8:10-12, Mt 25:24-30

We reap what we sow! Cause & Effect!

Expand full comment

Good article!!

Joseph Heath wrote a great philosophical article called "A defense of stigmatization". He fundamentally argues that human willpower/self-control is fallible and fickle. He asserts that in many situations "stigma" functions as a "social scaffolding" which outsources individual willpower to the community in order to help prevent and control maladaptive behaviour. Removing stigma leaves people with maladaptive and harmful tendencies to manage these entirely on their own, through sheer individual willpower. "Destigmatization" is just another form of social atomization which occurs under progressivism.

Heath's article is great, but dense. I wrote a little overview of the paper here for anyone interested: https://brandonmcmurtrie.substack.com/p/stigma-as-social-scaffolding-of-behaviour

Expand full comment
author

I will read with interest. I am certainly not arguing for all and every stigma, but I can't help observe that some are there for good reason and are not just arbitrary.

Expand full comment

Trouble is the left have been overwhelmed with academics and alienated the workers

Expand full comment
Sep 29Liked by Simon O'Connor

Great perspective! 👍🏻

Expand full comment
author

Thanks Mike.

Expand full comment
Sep 26Liked by Simon O'Connor

Moral relativism taken to its logical conclusion , but even then it cannot be used as justification for behavior that is predatory and abusive towards vulnerable minors.

Expand full comment
author

but some will try, worryingly!!!

Expand full comment
Sep 26Liked by Simon O'Connor

Great stuff Simon.

Expand full comment
Sep 26Liked by Simon O'Connor

The Progressive & Conservative view very well expressed here . Thank you

Expand full comment

Good article Simon.

History repeats because human nature hardly changes. We must evolve as a species and this means resisting the progressives who would rather we devolved into an even more uncivilised society.

Stigmas and shame are some of the methods we use to help keep the younger and vulnerable members of our communities safe from predators. Without these methods we would need to resort to force or violence to push out those who stray outside the norms of acceptable behaviour.

Every day our media monetises the behaviours playing out in some of the communities around New Zealand - predatory behaviour, family violence, drugs, and gangs, with the odd murder thrown in for good measure. Is this the sort of primitive society the progressives would want us to devolve into?

Expand full comment