Moral Collapse In The 1920s

Editor’s Note: This is a work in progress.

A few years ago, I decided that I wanted to write a book about the collapse of morality. I wanted to dig into the subject and trace the intellectual roots of the moral catastrophe that occurred at some point in the 20th century. How did morality become identified with the -isms and -phobias?

In 2020, our country is being ripped apart by fanatics who are obsessed with antiracism, but a century ago virtually no one in America believed “antiracism” had anything to do with morality. The same is true of “anti-Semitism.” It became taboo after World War II. In our times, accusations of sexism, nativism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, “discrimination,” “white privilege” and “white supremacy” and so on are sufficient grounds to destroy a man’s career. The traditional moral virtues which used to collectively comprise a Victorian man’s character – things like honesty, courage, integrity, fidelity, piety, temperance and so forth – count for nothing in the public sphere. It occurred to me that 18th and 19th century Americans would be bewildered by what passes for “morality” in our times. “Morality” as we understand it in the 21st century was conjured into existence only in recent decades.