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Mitch, Mitch, Mitch
[Bruce Frohnen 02/22 08:21 PM]A friendly disagreement with Mitch, who says that a loss of virtue will necessarily produce destructive social disorder. Yes, and no. Ross's point was that a society that lacks virtue can still "work." And I think that's true. As I recall, T.S. Eliot pointed out that societies need not end merely because they've become horribly corrupt; the result is not necessarily death, it could well be boredom. Now, social and cultural boredom is a terrible, awful thing. It leads to all kinds of bad behavior, unhappiness and degradation of the human spirit. But it can go on for an awfully long time — really, until something else comes along to replace it (usually barbarians with a strong, if primitive, culture). Take that, Mitch.
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