TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Author Criticizes Society's 'New Age' Of Tolerance

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEVIN WALKER

Published: September 30, 2007

'In Praise of Prejudice,' by Theodore Dalrymple (Encounter, $20)

Dalrymple, a retired British physician and psychiatrist who regularly worked with patients from prisons and poor urban areas, has issues with contemporary culture, especially licentiousness and lack of self-control. His is the sort of cultural conservatism that is not fashionable these days. Yet, his well-articulated arguments and wit make it hard not to at least discuss his ideas.

Here, Dalrymple disagrees with the idea we should free ourselves of prejudice. He doesn't mean racial prejudice. Rather, he refers to the idea that it's a 'new age,' and all patterns of behavior previously deemed unacceptable are acceptable.

For example, he's concerned about the loss of social niceties, such as the idea 'that tolerable social relations require self-control, that living with others imposes a duty of restraint.' He decries a lack of respect for the 'custom, law and wisdom of the ages,' with many people looking at history (if they do at all) as a source of disasters to avoid rather than achievements to honor.

On a more controversial note, he argues prejudice against having children out of wedlock might do well to return. Working with poor patients, he saw teenage girls time and again having babies, often with absent fathers, thus reproducing the very environment they hoped to escape.

Would these girls be better off 'instilled at any early age with a prejudice' against having a child at such a young age and when alone? Discuss.

Kevin Walker writes for TBO.com and the Tribune.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT