Is America in moral decline?

Both Hymnowitz (2004) and Bork (1994) address this question, each taking a different stance on the subject. In “Our Changing Culture,” Hymnowitz (2004) adopts an optimistic view, claiming that the younger generations are returning to traditional family values and rejecting the excesses of their parents’ generation. Bork (1994) disagrees, claiming that liberalism’s “rot and decadence” have been leading to the decay of morality in American society—and possibly in Western society in general (p. 6). Both authors occasionally slip into hyperbole, and both make some valid points backed up with references to popular culture, facts, or data. Ultimately, though, Hymnowitz (2004) makes a far stronger rhetorical case: America’s moral character remains strong

Hymnowitz (2004) argues that America is returning to some of its roots family and cultural values, and not necessarily for the better. The author introduces the subject by using examples from popular culture and media and then offers statistics including a lower rate of crime and reduced rates of drug and alcohol abuse. For example, the younger generations are also taking marriage and childrearing more seriously, learning from the mistakes made by their parents. Americans are also embracing the evidence showing that indeed, divorce is bad for children, and that good parenting requires moms and dads to actually spend time with their children at home.

In fact, Hynmowitz (2004) even goes so far as to claim that some young Gen-X adults “resemble their Silent Generation grandparents more than their boomer parents, especially in their longing for suburban nesting as a dreamlike aspiration,” (p. 18). Hymnowitz (2004) attributes many of these shifts in American family values and norms to the increased diversity among young people. More first-generation immigrants means more conservative attitudes towards work and family, according to the author. Hymnowitz (2004) seems overly eager to prove that generations X and younger are returning to a prior, more idyllic state of morals in America. The author wants to make the case not that America is progressing or moving forward, but that it may be moving backward to a magical time before crass materialism, sex, drugs, and rock and roll took over. Granted, the author may in fact aim to persuade conservative readers that their fears of progress are unfounded.

Many of the seeming signs of moral decay are also superficial, notes Hynmowitz. For example, soccer moms with piercings take pole dancing classes for aerobic exercise. These are not signs of moral decay, just so-called “bourgeois bohemian” trends (Hymnowitz, 2004, p. 19). Millennials are defined by being “sober, hardworking, respectful, and chaste,” (p. 20). Hynmowitz (2004) would strengthen her argument by admitting that she believes American values swing like a pendulum. The excesses of one generation shift towards the conservatism of the next. Instead, the author equates progress with regression, extolling the virtues of suburban middle class life and heterosexual marriage, for example. The author’s tone is optimistic, perhaps overly so, and Hymnowitz (2004) only cites facts, data, and statistics that support her hypothesis. Still, the case of America’s sound moral health is a strong one particularly in that the author uses an abundance of specific examples.

Bork (1996), on the other hand, remains profoundly pessimistic to the detriment of the rhetorical impact of the article. The author claims that there is a “culture war” going on in America that essentially signifies the decline of Western civilization and values (p. 4). Bork (1996) uses unnecessarily inflammatory language liberally throughout the essay, mainly without substantiating claims with specific examples. For instance, the author refers to the “coercive left-wing political indoctrination at a prestigious university,” (Bork, 1996, p. 4). What university? What indoctrination? The author also misses the point of rap music, or of music in general, failing to understand the role of satire in the Nine Inch Nails song and making blanket assumptions about rap music that suggest a possible racist undertone of the entire argument. Bork makes a claim about “the latest rap song calling for killing policemen or the sexual mutilation of women,” but does not name this mythical tune or quotes its non-existent lyrics.

Likewise, the author talks about the “collapse of the criminal justice system” but not based on real facts like prison overcrowding but on the “inability to even convict the clearly guilty,” (Bork, 1996, p. 4 ). The author fails to refer to the specific inability to convict incident. The author picks on illegitimate birth as a calling card of liberalism, which weakens the overall argument entirely given that births out of wedlock can occur for any number of reasons, and are not necessarily a symbol of moral decay.

One of the most egregious errors Bork (1996) makes is in lambasting “the angry activists of feminism, homosexuality, environmentalism, animal rights,” which he calls moral “pollutions,” instead of examples of grassroots social activism that brings about genuine moral betterment in society (p. 5). By far the most problematic passage of Bork’s essay is his claim, “we have redefined what we mean by such things as child abuse, rape, and racial or sexual discrimination so that behavior until recently thought quite normal, unremarkable, even benign, is now identified as blameworthy or even criminal,” (p. 5). It seems the author would prefer to return to the good old days when rape or child molestations was a man’s right.

In spite of these logical problems, Bork (1996) does offer a few sound arguments, such as the need to move away from “radical individualism,” (p. 5). The author also correctly points out, “both the fear of crime and the escalating harshness of the response to it will sharply reduce Americans’ freedom of movement and peace of mind,” (p. 10). While both Bork (1996) and Hymnowitz (2004) make salient points in their argument, the latter provides a much stronger case. America is not in moral decline.





References

Bork, R.H. (1996). Modern liberalism and American decline.

Hymnowitz, K.S. (2004). Our changing culture.