Does my bum look big in this?

Two events grabbed my attention this week. The first was a friend who disparaged religion and said that the important thing was to live a good life. The second was the introduction to a nineteen sixties comedy program by its script writer in which he said that in those days some of the cast were gay but no-one was bothered about laughing.

The nineteen sixties was the great liberation from guilt in the UK. Prior to the nineteen sixties people were indoctrinated to feel guilty about everything, particularly sex. Religion, the source of most guilt, was rejected. By nineteen seventy the only remaining guilt was when a man's wife asked him how she looked and if he replied "nice" his loyalty could then be tested by the extent of guilt that could be inflicted. The inflicting of guilt is always a test of power.

We are now almost three generations from the nineteen sixties. The guilt has not just returned, it has blossomed. Thinking and speaking "incorrectly", treating the politics and religion of others as a source of humour, is reviled. God help any husband who says his wife's politics only look "nice" on her. Everyone is the object of power and must display the guilt of obedience.

But why should anything be "incorrect"? What is the good life? Why shouldn't I adopt Viking values? The only answer that a secular revolutionary can offer is the fact of power. Things will go very badly for you if you try being a Viking in "my" society.

If we take a postmodern child aside and and ask her to explain the foundation of her ethics, morality and politics she will ask "what is foundationalism?", like a child. However, even if you tell her about these things she might still revel in power and guilt but now be upset that you know her.

Perhaps our mainstream media and children will mature and realise that interpersonal power and guilt are childish. Even without a foundation for our morality we can tell that the exercise of interpersonal power and inflicting of guilt are nasty.

3/4/2021

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