The Pervocalypse is no Surprise; but What Don’t we Know?

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I am absolutely not a conspiracy theorist.  I have way to much to do trying to figure out the mysteries of my own existence and caring for my family. I hardly have time try and figure out if chemtrails are real, who killed JFK or whether or not a cabal of evil actors including Bigfoot and Mothman planted the charges that brought down the Twin Towers.

But in light of what some have called the ‘pervocalypse,’ (the daily unveiling of new and terrible behaviors by politicians and entertainers, from pedophilia to sexual harassment and back again), I have begun to wonder just exactly what we don’t know.

Perhaps it’s best to start with what we do know now. We know that many government officials have been identified as sexual predators.  They are sworn to uphold the law and elected to make America a land of justice and safety, and it’s a sad day when we are no longer shocked by their low behavior.  Behavior so low that taxpayer money went towards keeping their victims quiet.  I’m not here to defend anyone.  Read on.

We know, also, that even more than politicians, entertainers from the film and television industries have been called out and fired for their own reprehensible treatment of women, men and children.  (Stay tuned…it’s likely that the numbers of both politicans and entertainers will rise.)

While not sworn to uphold the law, our entertainment ‘class’ has badgered us for decades with their clearly insincere protestations of feminism, their moralizing, their charges of hypocrisy against people who advocated for better moral standards in film, television and even music.  Their disdain for faith and morality on the grounds that it only made things worse.  They set themselves up as the collective cultural jury  of the land; all the while they couldn’t help harrassing, touching, fondling and raping when it seemed convenient.

We’re only scratching the surface here. It has long been known that professional athletes are users and abusers of women.  But when will we hear about the predations of rap culture?  About the abuse and rape and harassment that must surely inhabit a musical sub-culture so full of mysoginy, and lyrics (and videos) that are constantly objectifying to women?

When will we learn the whole truth; that wealthy, powerful women can be as vile and abusive as their XY counterparts?  Women are capable of rape; and there’s not doubting that.  There are statistics to back this up.  But all you need to do is read the local or state paper and see the next story of the high school teacher who seduced her male students who were underage.  (Don’t worry; if she’s pretty she’ll get a slap on the wrist.)

When will the truth shine through and tell us that people in the LGBTQ community are as awful as the ‘straight, cis-gendered’ folks?  That they, like all humans, have sexual drives that can turn violent, abusive, dangerous and criminal?  Will we be allowed to know this?  As long as it took for the current ‘pervocalypse,’ I suspect it will not be a forthcoming fact.

What else do we know?  We know that all of this has gone on for decades.  In Hollywood and in Washington, and everywhere else that power and privilege and money meet.

But what we don’t know?  We don’t yet know how widespread all of this wickedness is in academia. I think we’ll find that it’s epidemic in the hallowed halls where our PhD bearing and granting professors and researchers hold court.  I expect there to be a similar explosion of accusations in the world of medicine.  Lewd comments are all too common in medical schools, hospitals and physician practices.  Doubtless many have endured more than base words or suggestions; watch for many great physicians to fall from on high.

Although the problems of pedophilia in the church have been known for a very, very long time, I will not be surprised to see a new purge of pastors and teachers, in the community and in the seminary.  Sin is everywhere, and where better for the devil’s work than in the lives of the leaders of the church?

We don’t know what other lies have been or are being foisted up on us.  For instance, now that we know their feminism is a joke, how about their views of other hot-button issues?  How many of those desperate to protect illegal immigrants have used and abused them down the years?  How many dedicated socialist entertainers and politicains know exactly what a bad idea it is, but love the potential it offers for graft and financial diversion?  How many environmentalists want the economy and industry to change so that they can benefit financially?  How many gun-control advocates have mansions full of firearms, legal and illegal, but can’t bear the thought of others having the same?

Did you ever read the story, Young Goodman Brown, by Nathanial Hawthorne?  In it a young Puritan realizes to his shock that there is (or may be) wickedness all around, parading through life in the shape of the good, Godly people of the town.

https://www.amazon.com/Young-Goodman-Stories-Thrift-Editions/dp/0486270602

I am fascinated by what I’m seeing.  However, I’m not shocked. In fact, my faith is confirmed.  The Bible says that ‘no one is righteous, not one,’ and that ‘if we say we have not sin we lie and the truth is not in us.’

Sexual sin all around?  Tragic and dangerous.  But hardly a surprise. What’s a surprise is, well, how surprised we all are, thinking as we did that we had evolved, that we were (as a culture) ‘woke.’  And it’s a surprise we listened so raptly to people who said the right things and did the wrong ones.  We should have suspected less of them, not more.

In truth, we’re the same base creatures in need of deliverance from temptation, in need of forgiveness and redemption, as we were 2000, 4000, 10,000 years ago and more.

But now that we’ve been remined, maybe we can do better.  And God help us, we can do a more diligent job of defending the helpless from the powerful.