Kerby Anderson

The last two months have shown us how easily the veneer of civilized American society can be shattered. We naively assumed that the moral foundations and social institutions would be strong enough to handle a global pandemic and scattered protests and riots. Now we see their weaknesses.

Victor Davis Hanson writes about this thin veneer of American civilization and begins by focusing on New York City which used to be thriving not so long ago. “The city is now something out of a postmodern apocalyptic movie, reeling from the effects of a neutron bomb. Ditto in varying degrees Minneapolis, Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco.”

On more than one occasion, I have mentioned in my commentaries that most of us lived in a world with a “live and let live” social philosophy. I do that in part to explain to a younger generation what life used to be like before university professors encouraged their students to hate America and to protest even “microaggressions.” Nearly everything is under attack. It’s not just statues that are being pulled down. Movies and TV programs are being pulled from services on the Internet. Comedians are complaining that they can’t even make a joke without facing the cancel culture.

Meanwhile, out in the streets, it is getting dangerous. Hanson reminds us that, “Once upon a time, trying to torch a federal courthouse would earn years in prison. And simply taking over a large chunk of downtown to re-create Lord of the Flies was unthinkable. Not now. Today you can go to jail for reopening a gym that requires masks, social distancing, and constant cleansing with antiseptics.”

In the book of Isaiah (5:20) there is a warning of a nation that “calls evil good, and good evil.” It sounds like American society today.