Democratization and Excusing of Terrible Behaviors

–Richard E. Vatz
     If I could get rid one just one (ungrammatical) liberal cliché, it would be, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

     It is not always an inappropriate phrase, but when it is used to excuse bad, self-destructive or criminal choices, it is odious.

     In reporting on the alleged assault domestic committed by Baltimore Raven Ray Rice and his fiancée, The Baltimore Sun quoted Maryland Network Against Domestic Violence executive director Michaele Cohen as saying “Domestic violence can affect anyone.”

     No, it cannot.

     I have never known personally anyone who has committed violence against a spouse, and I would be comfortable betting my entire pension that I never will.

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     Drug addiction is often described as something that could happen to anyone.

     No, it could not.  It is a choice.  Check out, incidentally, Jeffrey A. Schaler’s book, Addiction is a Choice. 

     Even physical addiction, as opposed to the patently fraudulent psychological addiction, is a choice, albeit not easy to cease.

     Will the popular culture ever reject the phrases that exculpate those who commit violent and/or self-destructive actions by saying it is just a random pathology which could strike anyone?

     Violent behavior, like drug addiction, is simply a choice, and it cannot occur without human agency or individual choice.

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 Professor Vatz teaches Persuasion at Towson University and is the author of The Only Authentic Book of Persuasion(Kendall Hunt, 2013). 

    


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