Word: moralizers
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...Other movies create lead characters who seem at first unsympathetic but then reveal, fairly obviously, their redeeming or heroic nature. These reductive moral tales sell the big lie that in life there are heroes and villains, that the good we seek is easily distinguishable from the good-bad we do. "Closer" introduces the viewer to four glamorous folks with severe but recognizable fissures in their facades. Not like movie people. Like people...
...moral values” theory of how the Democrats lost in 2004 is a typical product of modern American punditry. It provides a neat and compelling pop-sociological explanation of current political affairs. It has been instantly adopted by every commentator and arm-chair analyst in the union. And most crucially, it is pure bullshit...
...could care less what inane ideas are bouncing around in the cavernous regions we call the “talking heads.” What really worries me is that because 22 percent of respondents in an exit poll cited “moral values” as their top concern in this election, many Democratic politicians have concluded that Americans just don’t give a damn about jobs or national security, and that we’ve suddenly turned into a nation of ultra-traditionalist, socially intolerant Archie Bunkers...
...prospects over the next four years will largely depend on whether Reid is serious about defending progressive Democratic principles, or whether he will give into the temptation to pander to hard-line social conservatives. The latter is a losing proposition: fashionable pundit-babble about “moral values” aside, over the past few decades, Americans have been abandoning social conservatism like rats off a sinking ship. Rather than wanting to legislate their moral values for others, on a host of social issues, Americans increasingly favor personal autonomy in matters of lifestyle and conscience...
This is an eclectic smorgasbord of issues, to be sure. What connects them is a growing consensus in favor of personal autonomy in moral decisions, and a rejection of using government to enforce “traditional moral values.” In fact, if I were so reckless as to use the “L-word,” I might just call this a nation-wide, long-term shift in a socially liberal direction...