[1]McMINNVILLE, Ore. (BP)–Philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche declared, “God is dead”. As such, the German thinker believed that man had to be creative and invent his own values; God-given virtues were nothing more than a myth.
While Nietzsche’s philosophical seed was planted well over 100 years ago, it is bearing as much fruit as ever. He would be proud of the oxymoronic value of “relative truth” that dominates moral discussions the world over.
We are told that absolutes do not exist. This is especially true when it comes to morality. An idea of normal, we are instructed, does not exist. If there is no standard of conduct, then literally anything goes. The term “deviant” can no longer be applied to any person or situation.
Welcome to the 21st century. Currently the push is on to have society accept all manner of behavior once considered immoral. Some of these lifestyles are even making liberals uncomfortable.
Homosexuality, bisexuality and transexuality (those who believe they were born the wrong sex) are all behaviors forcing their way onto the stage of acceptability. Since normal no longer exists, how dare anyone say these lifestyles are deviant?
Waiting in the wings to join these choices as normative are other activities that push the envelope all the more.
[2]How can society continue to shun pedophiles? Can they help it if their sexual expression only finds fulfillment with children? With no moral standard, how can anyone impose a judgment upon them?
If normal does not exist, who can say the zoophile (a person with a sexual attraction to animals) is disturbed. Recently a man in Maine wrote a letter to a judge asking that his “wife” be allowed into a courtroom. The man needed special permission because his significant other happened to be “a dog of about 36 pounds weight and very well behaved,” the Bangor Daily News reported. With no absolute concerning morality, who can say his behavior is aberrant?
One of the latest forms of self-actualization is apotemnophilia (individuals who seek to have healthy limbs amputated — some assert for sexual reasons). If a man or woman having an operation to change their sexual organs is not taboo, how can whacking off an arm or a leg be considered strange behavior?
In a report on The Atlantic Monthly’s website, a British physician who has performed at least two elective amputations is quoted saying; “It was the most satisfying operation I have ever performed…. I have no doubt that what I was doing was the correct thing for those patients.” One amputee also stated, “Since I was 8 years old I wanted to amputate my left foot. It was never a part of me.” In modern no-value thought, apotemnophila has to be seen as just another form of self-expression.
“Art, like morality, consists in drawing a line somewhere,” observed British author G.K. Chesterton. The line of absolute truth is disappearing, and along with it is any sense of what is normal behavior.
Nietzsche is dead, but sadly his warped way of thinking lives on.
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