When I was a kid, my favorite television show was “The Partridge
Family” mostly because I was enamored with the late David Cassidy, whom I was
convinced I would marry someday. But also because the show featured the kind of
mildly corny humor a 7-year-old is inclined to enjoy.
I remember one joke in particular. Keith (David Cassidy) is
trying to give brotherly advice to Danny (Danny Bonaduce). He says, “If you
just believe, you can be anything you want to be.”
Danny responds, “Great. I want to be a black woman.” The laugh
track ensues because everybody knows that a pale white, red-headed,
freckle-faced kid cannot grow up to be a black woman.
I was thinking about that scene recently as I was listening to
Bishop Robert Barron give a riveting talk on relativism to a packed house in
Denver. As he spoke about the philosophical underpinnings of relativistic
thinking, I realized that joke couldn’t be told today because, as a society, we
don’t seem to agree that race, gender, or just about anything else, is based in
any kind of objective truth.
Bishop Barron spoke of a video you may have seen. A rather short
male interviewer asks college students what they would think if he told them he
identifies as a woman, then an Asian woman, then a 6’4” Asian woman. They
hesitate at times, but all ultimately agree that if that is his “truth,” then
he is indeed entitled to be a tall Asian woman.
That is the ultimate expression of relativism.
Relativism, boiled down, is essentially the belief that there is
no “objective” truth that is true for all. Rather, we as individuals establish
our own subjective “truths” and we live “authentically” to the extent that we
honor these individual “truths.”
The speed with which we have descended down this path is
breathtaking. When I was in my 20s, I used to debate abortion at Berkeley. Not
exactly a friendly audience — I remember mentally noting exits, including windows
that I could utilize if things got out of hand. But they showed up, and they
listened, because there was still some understanding in society that there was
such a thing as truth, and hence an openness to listen to others to see if
together we could arrive at that truth. Or, at the very least, that I could
employ the truth as I see it to convince you that your understanding of the truth
is flawed.
Not so today. Open discussion of controversial issues is almost
nonexistent on most college campuses. If I have my truth and you have your
truth, what would be the point? We are just supposed to respect each other’s
truths and move on.
But the problem is that we all have to play together in the same
sandbox. Somebody’s truth has to rule our social interaction. If we can’t come
to an agreement about whose truth is truer, then the only option left is force.
And so, instead of listening to what you have to say, I attempt to forcibly
shut you down. I smash windows. I disrupt your talk. Or, alternatively, I call
on the authority of the university to do that dirty work for me while I hide in
a safe space with my crayons and puppy videos.
Pope Benedict XVI called relativism a “dictatorship.” And,
ironically, it is. The philosophy that purports to allow everyone to believe as
he wishes, actually allows no one to believe in anything but relativism. And
because there need be no rhyme nor reason behind any individual belief,
enforcement through persuasion becomes impossible. Hence, the inevitable clash
of ideologies. And it will be the stronger, not the most persuasive, who will
prevail.
Parents, please teach your children that there is such a thing as
truth. That yes, we may disagree with others about what that truth is, but that
we respect people — all people — regardless of their beliefs. Beneath the
disagreement, there is a truth. There is a God or there isn’t. Jesus Christ is
divine or He isn’t. Sexual expression has an inherent meaning or it doesn’t.
Gender is fixed or it isn’t.
And parents, if you want help with this, get your hands on Chris
Stefanik’s book Absolute Relativism, and check
out his YouTube videos on the same subject.]
In any disagreement about objective truths, someone is right and
someone is wrong. Or perhaps both are partially wrong and neither grasps the
full truth. But the truth is there.
In the old days, our goal was to find it.
Bonacci is a syndicated columnist based in Denver and the
author of We’re On a Mission from God and Real Love.