A Field Guide to Evil would be handy sometimes, wouldn’t it? It could offer graphics that look like geological cross-sections, with their observable layers of rock. Like the earth, evil is multilayered, extending into the past and composed of radically different materials.

Here is a perfect example of what I mean.

Lisa Belkin of the New York Times in her Adventures in Parenting series (take note of the title; that’s one layer) interviews a woman who has become unexpectedly pregnant at the age of 22. She is unmarried and has just been accepted into a prestigious master’s program. Belkin presents Emmie’s case and solicits comments on what the young woman should do about her predicament. Seven hundred readers write in with their ideas. After publicly considering the possibilities of adoption, raising the child and abortion (marriage does not appear to be an option she considers), Emmy opts for an abortion. She ends her meditations on the subject with this kernel of heartfelt wisdom:

If I get my degree then maybe the path it will take me on will lead me to work on women’s issues. Maybe one day I’ll make a million dollars and start a scholarship program for pregnant graduate students. I can’t believe that nothing good can come of this, I know I’ll do something right one of these days.

Now let’s examine the various substrata of evil:

1. The New York Times (the thickest and deepest layer). The newspaper makes the decision to commit an act of gross immorality seem no more serious or consequential than deciding on which college to attend. The wrongdoing of the New York Times and of Belkin herself is far more serious than that of anyone else involved. That’s because the Times is advocating and spreading evil, dropping a parasite into the cultural water supply.

2. Emmie’s parents. They have raised a moral dimwit of a daughter.

She talks to them about her decision:

Even though they would love a grandchild, I think they’re starting to understand how hard this will be for me. I talked to my mom yesterday and, even though she isn’t a very tender person, she said something that really stuck with me. I could tell she was really upset when she said, “Honey, this isn’t what I imagined for you. Being pregnant is such a wonderful experience and I wanted you to be surrounded by family and friends. Not like this.” I don’t think my mom has ever really told me what kind of life she’s envisioned for me, she’s always let me wander along. Of all the conversations I’ve had lately, that statement really hit me hard.

3. Emmie’s friends. They become suspiciously busy after Emmie announces she is pregnant. They apparently don’t want to have much to do with her and Emmie does not mention one who takes the time to offer her serious support or counsel.

4. The readers of the New York Times. They wrote in with advice for Emmy instead of besieging the newspaper with calls complaining about the articles.

5. Emmie’s male friend who fathered the child. Emmie writes:

One good thing that came out of this is that the father of this child stepped up to the plate —– not financially, maybe, but emotionally.

In what way did this sensitive guy step up to the plate? He offered her a ride to the doctor for the abortion.

6. The prestigious graduate school which accepted Emmie and all other graduate schools that have, out of crass self-interest, foisted careerism on young women by making tedious and mind-numbing coursework seem like a romantic adventure. Says Emmie:

I love school and I’m a great student so that’s what I’m going to focus on while I still have the energy to make it look easy.

7.  The employer, company or government agency that will someday benefit from Emmie’s expertise and exploits female labor at the expense of family formation.

8.  Emmie herself, the thick topmost crust.

Emmie will not give the child up for adoption even though an agency has offered to pay her “medical costs and set [her] up with adoptive parents for maternity shopping, grocery shopping, birthing classes and all kinds of programs. ” Giving a child up would “break” her emotionally. Better to take this person’s life than deal with her own tender emotions.  Most serious of all is her determination to make this outrageous act of narcissism seem virtuous:

I firmly believe that there’s nothing to regret here and we didn’t do anything wrong. Birth control fails. People get scared. They underestimate themselves and each other. Everything will be okay. After all of this, I am glad to have him to talk to because I know someone who feels exactly the way I do: angry, frightened, selfish, and desperate to grow up. We may not keep in touch after this ordeal but, at least for now, we’re trying to be stronger and wiser than we are.

There you have it: one slice of the rock of our age.

                                                          —–  Comments —–

A. Servant writes:

What can be said? More of the same, absolutely disgusting, Satanistic tripe that we are blasted with every day. I wish I could say that it is shocking, but this gross irreverence is as commonplace as the wind today. I am so disgusted by this for so long now I really don’t even want to acknowledge it with debate, I don’t even wish to set eyes upon these heathen, my only desire is to be separated from them completely. Paul talks about Lot being vexed by those wicked beasts he lived with in Gomorrah just by looking at them. Once again, I know it is “extreme” for most, but it is exactly how I feel. Defiled. Vexed.

Rose writes:

Reading through your recent posts on sexual decay, all I can see is the rarely mentioned technological elephant in the room.

Og the Late-Neolithic Man: So what do you think about all this ‘division of labor’ garbage and these different ‘hierarchical’ ‘social classes.’ I miss the old ways and am going to write a *strongly worded* opinion column about it!

Oggette the Late-Neolithic Woman: Make sure you discuss the recent invention of agriculture.

Og: What? What difference did that make?

Oggette: Well, it was pretty inevitable that once people began storing surplus food that…

Og: Inevitable? You’re saying that man has no free will! New technology doesn’t necessarily have to change anything. No, this is purely a cultural matter. Now how’s this for an opener: “Og is upset that the Nancy-boy ‘men’ of today have no idea how to track and bring down large game…”

Oggette: Well, since animals have been domesticated it’s natural that men wouldn’t be good a hunters as when…

Og: Determinist!

Now it is my opinion that since the industrial revolution humans have undergone just as great a change in circumstance as that that followed the agricultural one. I’m beginning to think that any social commentary in which the radical differences in our physical environment between now and even fifty years ago are not  foremost is not worth much.

Laura writes:

The influence of technology has been widely discussed and the degree to which technological changes actually call for traditional morality has been shockingly minimized. In an advanced society, traditional sexual morality makes more sense, not less, due to the lengthening of childhood dependence, the new threats posed to human health, the psychological alienation caused by extreme individualism and the increased numbers of the very old. So I agree with Rose. The effects of technology should be discussed and acknowledged. We are not responding to our environment, but are stubbornly resisting the changes that have been thrust upon us by circumstance and human advances.

However, if Rose is saying individuals are somehow obliged to take part in the spiritual crisis of our society, that is a patent bit of absurdity, illogical and insane.

Despite a host of technological changes, including the lengthening of the life span, birth control, the decline of manual labor, and medical advances that reduce pain and suffering, a number of important aspects of existence remain unchanged. They include:

1. The possibility of an intelligent moral agent who created and governs human affairs.

2. The psychology of male and female.

3. The human need for love and lasting connections.

3. The universal psychology of children.

4. The body, its rhythmic nature and daily requirements.

5. The human brain, its innate capacities and limitations.

6. The time-consuming nature of communication, especially of complex information and highly-developed concepts.

7. The fact of death.

Nothing mentioned in these discussions by way of solutions is impossible. If we are not free to control our actions, then all discussion is no more than the verbalizing of cerebral sensations and is pointless.

The Post-modern Antiquarian writes:

“In what way did this sensitive guy step up to the plate? He offered her a ride to the doctor for the abortion.”

He was probably going that way anyway.

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