There was a powerful description given by Pope Emeritus Benedict to describe the modern stance of a world that has abandoned any notion of objective truth to which it is accountable. The phrase was “The tyranny of relativism.”Posted on 11/30/2013 4:59:17 AM PST by markomalley
There was a powerful description given by Pope Emeritus Benedict to describe the modern stance of a world that has abandoned any notion of objective truth to which it is accountable. The phrase was “The tyranny of relativism.”
In effect the expression describes what happens when there is no standard outside ourselves to which reasonable people can and should appeal in order to square their views or opinions. In such a setting, appeals to reason and agreed upon standards cannot hold the day and resolve disputes.
Thus who “wins”? Whose view prevails? The sad answer is that those with the most money, power, or access win the day. It is power that wins, not reason or truth. Those with the greatest physical power, or access, or who have the money to sin influence and either bribe or win influence, they are the ones who “win” the day. So what is true is set aside in favor of force, power, money, or access. The one who can shout the loudest, be most politically organized and have the right friends in the right places, they win.
This is tyranny because it is about power and the capacity to force the issue that matters. The truth is lesser or no importance.
In the video below there is demonstrated, in a humorous way the manner in which the truth can be resisted and error and lies forced upon us. The video well demonstrates that the problem of the tyranny of relativism lies not only with the man of power, but also with the weaker “victim” of his power who refuse to insist on what is right, but instead cedes acre after acre of territory.
In the video, Darth Vader has been enlisted to record his voice for a GPS navigation system. Quite frequently he does not record the correct phrase. And, after meager attempts to correct him the sound engineer just caves in. Perhaps a little compromise about what is right, a little patience, will win Darth over to the correct way. It does not; and Vader just becomes more obnoxious and ego-centric as the commercial progresses. The message is that “playing nice” and compromising with what is wrong only creates more problems and a deeper darkness. The compromise with tyranny brings only worse tyranny and ultimately deadly resistance to what is right.
Consider a few stages and techniques displayed in the video.
1. Kindness offered but rejected - The sound engineer (SE) offers Darth Vader (DV) welcome and inquires as to his needs, offering a kind of basic kindness and concern for his well being. Of itself this is good, necessary and required for a Christian and is to be commended. But the offer is rebuffed with a certain rudeness.
For those of us in the Church who seek address and increasingly hostile world, kindness is essential as an opening stance. But we must be sober when our kindness is rebuffed. The hostile world may often see kindness as a sign of weakness. This does not mean that we should be unkind; only that we should be sober in assessing the stance of many who reject, even ridicule our kindness and mistake it for weakness. We must balance kindness with clarity.
2. Correction without perseverance - Darth Vader (DV) misspeaks the sentence in his very first take. The Sound Engineer (SE) seeks to correct him, but DV simply denies he has made any mistake.
And this too is a common tendency in our modern setting wherein many simply refuse to make any admission that what they have done is wrong. It is common for many who live sinful lives to insist, like DV, that they have done nothing wrong.
But, sadly, it is also important to note that in the video, the SE chooses not to insist on DV’s error and correct it. He just shrugs and accepts DV’s insolence. This of course will only ensure that things get worse. And too many clergy and parents have had this attitude in recent decades. As a result, behavior and respect for the truth have gotten only worse. Without correction, confusion only gets worse.
3. Redefining terms - Note that DV does not really argue about what the correct word is, (He says, “turn round” when he should say “turn right”). Instead, he insists that what he has said is the right word.
And thus today, many redefine or water down the meaning of terms so that one can insist that what they have said or done is what is required. For example, love is redefined or equated merely with affirming and supporting, but never with correction and insisting upon what is true and best even if it is hard.The same is true of the word mercy. Thus many people think they can go on forever doing what they please and in the end, God who is love and has mercy will overlook what they do and save them. Further, those who speak to limits and insist on what is right are called unloving, hateful, unmerciful etc.
And just as DV insist that his word “turn round” is the same as “turn right” thus many today misuse words or insist that there is no difference. So, for example, Marriage is also redefined to mean almost anything. The when the Church, like the sound engineer tells moderns they use the wrong word (“Marriage”) to describe homosexual liaisons, they stubbornly and irrationally say in effect, “Oh no I didn’t.” Thus like DV, “Marriage” absurdly is misused to describe homosexual liaisons and any objection is greeted with a simple denial that the word used in wrong.
4. Caving - Sadly after several attempts to correct DV, the SE simply gives up and says, putting a positive spin on what is still wrong, “OK, lets just go forward!” But this is NOT going forward. It is caving to error. And this is something too many Christians are willing to do today: we just cave in, thinking that somehow this will enable us to go forward to find peace in overlooking and compromise. It will not. Things will only get worse.
5. Suggestion replaces clear direction - At one point the SE asks DV, “Is there any way you could breathe a little quieter?” Thus, what should be a clear instruction from the SE comes across as a feeble suggestion, or mere wish.
And this is sadly emblematic of the modern Church setting wherein too many preachers are not clear and use a tone that is merely suggestive, rather than confidently instructive. Who will follow an uncertain trumpet? Who will muster for battle?
6. God made me this way! - Of course Darth Vader (DV) objects and takes offense, stating that is is just the way he breathes, i.e., this is just the way God made him!
How common today for so many to make excuses for their behavior, saying that God made them this way, or that someone else is to blame for their problematic behavior. Perhaps one will say they are not responsible because their mother dropped them on their head when they were two.
Of course no one denies that we all come into this world with certain gifts and struggles, certain proclivities and certain deficits. But we are still called to moral uprightness, whatever the nature of our temptations our struggles, whatever the cards we were dealt. No one, playing a card game can reasonably say, “I don’t like the cards I got so I am changing the rules.” But this is common today. Blaming God or others does not excuse or entitle us to a separate set of rules.
7. The soft bigotry of low expectations - Sadly the SE accepts DV’s protests and enters the booth to rework the equipment. DV cannot meet the standard so the standard must change.
Welcome to modern education and moral theory. Since certain people cannot meet the standard, they get a different standard, a lower standard, a fake standard.
In the end they are not helped by this, even if they are made to “feel better.” It is actually the worst form of discrimination to conclude that someone is too pathetic to meet the standard. It is also destructive of human potential and progress.
8. Ineffective Instruction Leads to Incorrigibility - to be incorrigible means to be stubbornly resistant to correction. And thus for all the doting on DV, for all the suggestiveness and compromise, DV doesn’t get better, he doesn’t improve; he just gets worse. In the end he becomes violently non-compliant.
Welcome to the tyrannical world of modern relativism and suggestive moral leadership. Without clear teaching and an insistence on what is right, darkness and stubbornness grow and the end is even violent. The rise in Juvenal delinquency cannot be separated from the uncertain pedagogy of the modern scene. In the end we are left with too many younger people who will not be told what to do, who are incorrigible. Many adults too in our culture and in the Church, are poorly instructed by the Church have not become more amenable by our “understanding” but have become hardened in their sin and are often beyond correction.
The tyranny of relativism. These are heavy topics, but they are humorously illustrated in this video. “Enjoy!”
Video at link.
Enjoy!
Msgr Pope ping
srbfl
“The message is that “playing nice” and compromising with what is wrong only creates more problems and a deeper darkness. “
...and Obama does this ALL THE TIME with the TRUE ENEMIES of the US!
...and the weaker public and RINO’s cave in hoping the situation will get better...and it doesn’t.
Nice article!
I can’t help but wonder how Msgr. Pope sees all these commercials. I don’t see any, unless I’m stuck in a waiting room somewhere!
Does he watch a lot of commercial television, or does he browse Youtube for interesting ads?
Ping!
Mark, Thank you for posting this article. It is very appropriate for today’s world. I remember the beginnings of “relativism” back in the late 1960’s when it was known as “situational ethics.” I rebelled at the concept then as being bad and leading to destruction of clear Christian ethics and morality and haven’t waivered from that view. Unfortunately several of my friends disagreed. And we were all attending a Catholic Men’s College.
Tax-chick, I'd bet my meager money that Msgr. Pope doesn't fritter away the hours stumbling upon quirky ad material. I'm pretty sure there are sites out there called "way cool ads" or somesuch, where they have hundreds of spots (not just USA, but worldwide) you can click on and--- well, let your imagination take a couple of swings at it.
Pope seems to hit it square, every time.
Oh, I didn’t think of that. I’ve never been a fan of ads-as-entertainment.
the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. /proverbs
Sooner that “thing” is out of office the better...along with all his peeps and whores that followed him in there!
Thanks for the ping. This is true. And it does no good to cite any authority, such as the Bible, for statements of ethics or morality, because they simply eject the authority.
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