Bring Back the Scarlett Letter
Some things deserve to be shamed. Should be shamed.
We live in a society that is very resistant to the concepts of right and wrong, and declaring something to be morally right or wrong will get you called “judgmental” and “close-minded.” Well there’s being open-minded, and then being so open-minded that your brains fall out. So you might be wondering what has me riled up about this right now. I’m riled up over proud and shameless adultery and the fact that we don’t shame it anymore the way that we should.
Someone I respect and care about has been dragged across an emotional bed of nails over the last year as their spouse ran off with a whore with whom they’ve just had an adulterine bastard. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, it’s not the kid’s fault, but would you want to know that you were born while one of your parents was still married? That one parent broke up the other’s marriage while your sibling was still in utero? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
I’m pretty liberal about what people do in their bedrooms, and I’m a fairly sexually curious person myself. But who people do stuff with matters, especially when one or both parties are in a relationship with someone else. Open relationships don’t interest me although I think they’re okay things for those who agree to them. But “open marriage” is an oxymoron, in my mind. Even in civil ceremonies in our society, it’s common practice to vow to keep yourself only for your spouse so long as both of you shall live, and all the mainstream religions condemn sex with someone other than your spouse. If you don’t believe in monogamy, or in being restricted to sexual relations with a certain person, fine, to each their own. But don’t fucking get married if you’re not going to be faithful.
Some things deserve to be shamed. Should be shamed. Should be called out and criticized for the moral travesties they are. When you cheat on your spouse, or contribute to the breakdown of a marriage, you have committed a moral travesty, and no amount of moral relativizing or babble about “alternative lifestyles” and “live and let live” will change that.
