Out to Sea... Aub and Me

Ohhh the beauties of a warm summer weekend... Thats right, folks, this Saturday marked the first family bonfire of the season. Yesss!! Now in my family, this entails hot dogs, baked beans, rootbeer, peanut butter smores, you get the picture. Delicious. There was also a long and angry phone call to my soon-to-be-sixteen cousin Rachel, who forewent a trip to Utah in favor of a smashing co-ed birthday party. Psssh. Later, there was singing and ukulele accompaniment. Somewhere in between all of that bliss, however, my cousin Aubrey and I (see the picture below) took a walk down the the old field and parked ourselves on top of the old truck. (Get it? Parked?) That is where our philosophical discussion began.

Ok, so it didn't really begin philosophically... but once we got high school graduation and boys out of the way, our conversation somehow turned to the ethics of our generation. The political atmosphere seems so saturated with "Whatever is right for you" and "Who am I to judge?" If you can't picture exactly what I mean by that, check out the comments under this blog post by Erik Folgate. I left one also, expressing my belief in the unchanging moral code that Folgate references, and also recognizing his significant interest in social media. I'm not sure if the comment is up yet, it said it was "waiting for moderation", but I'll be interested to see if he has any opinions on how the media affects our moral ideals.
Anyway, these philosophies of moral relativity may sound harmless, but when applied to the character of our country, they hold grave implications. What happens when a justice system simply refuses to judge? Some things are right; others are wrong, and I trust the law of our nation to mark that line, no matter if one or another individual complains against it. There seems to be less and less sympathy for this point of view, however, as my generation grows more and more libertarianist/morally passive than ever.

Easy A

Easy A... Hm. Just to clarify, we're not talking the plus or minus kind. We're talking scarlet, skanky, and sinful A. And this is what I chose to focus on this term. (Self evaluation time, perhaps?) As I surf the web, Google+, and YouTube under the umbrella of "The Scarlet Letter," I come to realize the the moral reality of what this novel actually talks about. I picked a book about adultery? How am I going to find modern content related to my novel that isn't totally inappropriate? Or a better question: How have I never had this moral dilemma with actual novel of The Scarlet Letter before now?

True, the novel begins after the act took place, following Hester through the aftermath of that initial sin. This seems, however, to come down to the fundamental differences between text and technology. The novel fills me full of words- ones that would justify, soften, explain her inner heart. And I feel it. I understand. She has her pain and her righteous punishment, and I cling to those wisps of wisdom that only emerge from the troubled soul.

Scrolling down a YouTube or Google image search, however, I'm embarrassed by the sensual content so readily available. Not blatantly inappropriate or pornographic, but provacative nonetheless. Can I argue or complain, though? No. That is adultery, that is the reality. So here is my counterintuitive thought of the day: Maybe our new media, as amoral as it seems, serves as a spotlight with which to illuminate the truths of transgression. No more hiding between the pages or behind the silent traditions of social propriety. Our abundant media lends itself to a greater knowledge and understanding of the nature of sin, making it feel more applicable and aversive than the fancy words ever did. Crazy, huh?