I’ve not been even remotely arguing what you seem to think I might be.
But if I were to: have you never heard it said that a people’s greatest madness will seem most normal to them?
Yes, madness can be sustained. That doesn’t mean it isn’t madness, but unless it is actually got some sort of self destructive feed back action going on that must end badly(like federal spending, for example) it might even be sustained for a long while.
We live in a society that basically celebrates any unfaithfulness, any unrighteousness, and out-right perversion and murder of the innocent just so long as sex is involved so the only way someone couldn’t be unaware that there are cultural “aberrations” is if they have their head shoved up their can for ideological reasons so they can’t see what’s going on around them.
“Yes, madness can be sustained. That doesn’t mean it isn’t madness, but unless it is actually got some sort of self destructive feed back action going on that must end badly(like federal spending, for example) it might even be sustained for a long while.”
That’s all true, but in this case the mathematics of procreation provides the feedback.
Until a population reaches a certain size, it is at risk of extinction. The loss of ten men is a disaster, but the loss of ten women can spell the end of the tribe.
What happens to the population if 20 babies aren’t born for ten consecutive years? Only a large population could endure that kind of hit, particularly in the days before modern medicine.
Oh, btw, sorry if I seemed argumentative. I didn’t mean to seem like I was contradicting you. I was just saying...