By DONALD DeMARCO
Ted Koppel, who gained fame as the anchor for ABC’s Nightline, delivered a commencement address to the graduating class of Duke University in Durham, N.C. His presentation was not the usual politically correct palaver. Among his many trenchant remarks was this assertion: “We have actually convinced ourselves that slogans will save us.” Koppel’s address was in 1987. We have not yet weaned ourselves of this delusion. We continue to believe that slogans will save us.
Koppel may have either disturbed or enlightened his audience by pointing out that moral truths are hard to come by and often looked upon with suspicion. “In its purest form,” he said, “truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder. It is a howling reproach. What Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions.”
National Basketball players, in a feeble effort to achieve racial equality, were sporting the message Black Lives Matter on their warmup shirts. Basketball courts were festooned with the same slogan. This proved to be somewhat controversial, even among blacks. It also seemed excessively narrow. After all, non-Blacks make up the bulk of the world’s population. Consequently, they changed their slogan to “Now is the time to make justice a reality for all.”
This, unfortunately, although more universal, is an awkward phrase. Justice has nothing to do with the calendar. Justice is never out of season. Moreover, justice is not something we “make” but exercise on a person-to person basis. It is a personal virtue that is not easily attained. Nor, if attained, is it easily retained. Law students spend years of training to become ambassadors of justice. And yet, there are lawyers who stray outside of the law. We need something a little more rigorous than slogans to form character.
Another problem with slogans is that they can serve nefarious purposes. Nike’s slogan is “Just Do It,” a suggestion that has no boundaries. Cigarette slogans, before they were removed by law, were instrumental in the development of lung cancer. Ashley Madison is a Toronto organization that promotes and arranges adultery. Its slogan is “Life is short, have an affair.” St. Thomas Aquinas pointed out that adultery is an act of injustice toward one’s spouse. According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (n. 2335):
“Adultery is an injustice. He who commits adultery fails in his commitment. He does injury to the sign of the covenant which the marriage bond is, transgresses the rights of the other spouse, and undermines the institution of marriage by breaking the contract on which it is based. He compromises the good of human generation and the welfare of children who need their parents’ stable union.” We may question whether those who work for racial justice are also working for marital fidelity? Justice has both breadth and depth.
While slogans may appeal to those who prefer not to think, they do little to feed the mind. Professor Martha Nussbaum, Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, has made the comment that “every single university student should study philosophy. You need to lead the examined life and question your beliefs. If you don’t learn critical thinking, then political debate degenerates into a contest of slogans.”
We should be more suspicious of slogans than we are of philosophy. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were not sloganeers. To profit from their wisdom, however, requires, time, effort, and reflection. The slogan, however, fits neatly into our fast-paced society. Slogans distract us so that we do not see the truth. But it is the truth that shall make us free.
In his Commentary on Job (34, lect. 2), Aquinas states that one reason that men fall short of justice is “deference to the mob.” Political correctness is a kind a mob psychology. We can easily be intimidated by trends, fashions, and everything that is au courant. We are social beings and do want to be “with it.” The temptation to go along with others can be very seductive.
Justice, desirable as it is, is not an entrance value. We cannot begin our moral life with justice. Although we are bound to our neighbor by invisible cords of justice, it is not likely that we will be just to our neighbor if we do not have at least some regard for him. Therefore, justice presupposes love. In the absence of love, justice is merely a cold requirement, sometimes often imposed by the magistrate.
We cannot love everyone passionately, but, according to the Christian mandate, we can love others justly. If I owe a stranger $100, I am indebted to pay him that sum. It is not likely that we will be just to people if we have absolutely no regard for them.
Here we get to the nub of the social problem. We need love before we can enact justice or, as a matter of fact, any other virtue. Moreover, slogans will not help in this regard. The family, as St. John Paul II has often said, is the first school of love. In this sense, the family is indispensable. Parental love never has had a need to utilize slogans. Love develops through loving experiences.
It would be a mistake to think that justice is primarily a reaction to injustice. Often, this reaction takes the form of vengeance. True justice is both supported and nourished by love. What is egregiously missing in our current society is enough love that will inspire a plethora of other virtues, including courage, temperance, prudence, generosity, gratitude, compassion, and hope. The responsibility for restoring society does not lie with the NBA, but with the family.
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