Modern Morality

The first Europeans to arrive in the New World fled from Europe to escape religious persecution. Morality was based on the Bible as well as religion in general. Biblical law was societal law; there was no separation between church and state. The majority of their laws came from the Ten Commandments, and there was no open interpretation of the Bible. What was written was perceived literally.  The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and The Crucible by Arthur Miller are both critical of Puritan Society and their overbearing laws regarding people’s personal lives as well as laws that wouldn’t be seen as laws in modern times. While we, as a modern people, vocalize that we prioritize morality, based on the election of Donald Trump, the treatment of minorities, as well as massive social injustices, our actions as a society indicate otherwise.

Morality has plummeted due to the election of Donald Trump and other individuals who have a past of immoral behaviors. Before Trump was elected he called Mexicans rapists, proposed banning an entire religion from entering the U.S. which he later followed through on, mocked a disabled reporter, bragged about committing sexual assault as well as being accused of sexual assault by twelve women. This man ran an eighteen month long campaign off the backs of his supporters’ hatred and the people who voted for him allowed a power-hungry business tycoon to take over the United States. It is written in this nation’s pledge of allegiance that every person is equal and has a right to liberty as well as justice. “The land of the free, the home of the brave, under God, indivisible with Liberty and Justice for all.” His campaign as well as his views and actions are the opposite of the pledge of allegiance. Justice for all means everyone, including minorities and immigrants. Puritans use the Bible as a weapon against certain individuals in society instead of lifting the people’s morals like it was intended to do. “This woman has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die” (Hawthorne 46). The people of this society thought Hester deserved to have the most severe punishment because she violated the seventh commandment which is thou shall not commit adultery. These people believed this because their entire life revolved around the church, they devoted themselves to religion. Another example of this type of situation is Chris Brown assaulting his girlfriend and there is proof. There are pictures of her beaten face and body but yet he is still successful. Millions of people buy his records and he still has many supporters. Some may say that nobody should be defined by a single thing they have done but he had minimal repercussions. Based on what? His talent? That is simple unacceptable. Once we excuse someone’s action based on anything like their status or talent we can then justify excusing anyone’s actions if the circumstances are right. “Theology, sir, is a fortress; no crack in a fortress may be accounted small.” (Miller 67). If we can overlook one thing that someone has done then it becomes easier to overlook other bigger things that an individual has done. If we are all created equal then we should be treated as such regardless of skin color, gender, status or anything else that makes us different.

Due to the treatment of minorities as well as the social injustices and lack of empathy for others, we as a society are significantly less moral than we were in Puritan times. It’s no secret that minorities are targeted and blamed for this nation’s problems. Immigrants are blamed for the lack of jobs and African Americans are blamed for crime in the United States. “Instead of feeling protected by police, many African Americans are intimidated and live in daily fear that their children will face abuse, arrest and death at the hands of police officers who may be acting on implicit biases or institutional policies based on stereotypes and assumptions of black criminality” (Holland). We as a nation still let our buried racism and fear of people that are different dictate how we feel about certain people. Racism towards black people that dates back to the times of Slavery are still in effects today.  African American men are twenty times more likely to be targeted by police. There have been instances that have been caught on video where police brutality is depicted. Eric Garner was a forty-three year old black man who broke up a fight in the streets of Staten Island New York and was confronted by police and was later put in a choke hold which was caught on video. The police officer responsible for his death was not indicted. On August 9th, 2014, Michael Brown, who was unarmed, was shot six times by police officer Darren Wilson. Once again the man responsible for killing an eighteen year old boy was not found guilty. Whenever a white person is killed it is plastered all over the media, but whenever a black person is killed it’s just another ‘thug’ killed in the streets. As a modern society, we have less empathy towards people of color and it shows in our media and some tragic stories about young black people being murdered are not considered as high profile as let’s say as an example a white person being killed. “There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a human race. Scientifically, anthropologically, racism is a construct — a social construct. And it has benefits. Money can be made off of it, and people who don’t like themselves can feel better because of it. It can describe certain kinds of behavior that are wrong or misleading. So it has a social function, racism (1800 Sociologists Demand Justice And Change in Policing of Communities of Color”.) There are no biological properties of race. There is nothing about race embedded in our DNA, it’s simply about the concentration of melanin in our skin. Minorities and people of color are constantly being oppressed to further the agendas of people in power. It is so important to have representation for everyone in every aspect of life. There needs to be people of color in the supreme court, we need people in the LGBTQ+ community in congress and women in the house of representatives. Everyone needs to have a voice and minorities are unable to do so without representation. Representation is the reason for the Revolution in our country to gain independence from the British. It is scientifically proven that race does not exist, that it was created to elevate others and benefit others while putting down other people. To this day, people are still treated differently based on their race.

This nation is built on hypocrisy. We can not preach that we are tolerable and welcoming and accepting when we turn around and elect a person who coined the phrase “Build A Wall” to keep immigrants out when this entire country is built off the backs and hardwork of immigrants. How can we as a society claim that we are moral when history continues to repeat itself. We are stuck in a vicious cycle that needs to be broken and we can be the generation to do so. Diversity is what makes this country great. Not only racial, ethnic, sexual diversity is important; diversity of thought and ideals is what is changing the world. We need to be more accepting as a country so that we can move forward and fix the problems that are affecting us all regardless of our differences. Until we follow through with what what we say and turn it into action, we will never be as moral as we claim to be. When looking through history books, most people are mortified by the actions taken by the Puritans but how can we as a modern society say that they couldn’t possibly believe that such atrocities are committed when we sit back and watch horrible things happen every single day and not do a thing about it. It’s even worse in this situation because we have easy access to historical documents yet we still let history repeat itself by sitting back and watching oppression take place.