Kobe Bryant was on his way to a successful second career in film when fate stepped in and abruptly ended his life with a horrific helicopter crash that also took the life of his daughter and seven other people.  Even for those of us who never watch NBA games, it was a sad day.

I happened to watch Patrick Bet-David’s 2019 interview with Kobe on YouTube the other day and was impressed with how the now-deceased Laker star presented himself.  I didn’t know that much about Kobe, but in the interview he came across as an intelligent, self-disciplined, articulate young man — definitely not a run-of-the-mill NBA thug.

What struck me as odd, however, was the number of times Kobe cavalierly dropped the f-bomb in the interview.  It didn’t fit his image as a clean-cut family man who was impressive in every other respect.  I say it was odd, because I was perplexed as to why he felt the need to use foul language in an interview that would be viewed by millions.  It seemed strikingly out of character for him.

As recent as 25 years ago someone of Kobe’s stature would not have mouthed the f-bomb in a nationally televised interview, so why now?  Clearly, what has changed is American culture.  When a culture becomes coarsened, even the words and actions of otherwise well-mannered people are affected through a sort of societal osmosis.

In other words, of and by itself the casual use of obscene language is not a bad thing.  What is bad, however, is that it’s part of the fallout from a society that has lost its way, a society where not only does bad behavior go unpunished, it’s cheered on by a significant portion of the population.

Americans have become anesthetized to cultural rot by watching young thugs pillaging retail stores … onlookers filming physical assaults, even rapes, in real time rather than coming to the aid of the victim … millions of people being rewarded for entering the country illegally … rioters setting fire to police cars … people defecating on the sidewalks of major cities … and much, much more.

When there are no consequences for bad behavior, sociopaths and psychopaths become increasingly brazen, which leads to their committing increasingly serious crimes.  It’s also why unpunished bad behavior has evolved into an in-your-face attitude on the part of the perpetrators of such behavior.  The idea of “doing your own thing” no longer satisfies modern-day barbarians.  Instead, they insist on shoving their “own thing” in the faces of those who prefer to live in a polite society.

This gets at the heart of what people find so offensive about the LGBTQ movement.  Mentally ill miscreants who traffic in this kind of stuff are no longer satisfied with being free to live an aberrant lifestyle without fear of persecution.  Today, their aim is to undermine the entirety of Western civilization by demanding that the other 99 percent of the population be forced to watch them engage in perverse behavior.

This, of course, is not a problem in countries like China, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan, because those who challenge the accepted code of conduct in those countries quickly find themselves in jail … or dead.  Americans, however, value their freedom above all else, so they’re willing to put up with a great deal of repugnant behavior if that’s what it takes to preserve it.

What it all comes down to is total freedom versus a society restrained by a generally accepted code of conduct.  Civil libertarians lean toward total freedom, but a majority of Americans believe in societal boundaries.  It’s a delicate balance, which John Adams pointed out is possible only with a moral people, and morality is a commodity that is in increasingly short supply in 21^st century America.

Which leads us to where we are today.  The Rubicon has been crossed by the in-your-face attitude of activists and malcontents that is accelerating out of control, because flaunting deviant behavior in public is incompatible with a civilized society based on an underlying moral structure.  Even worse, these perverts openly brag that they are “coming for your children,” which is a declaration of war against parents.  Their attitude is “What are you going to do about it?” because they know they don’t need to worry about consequences.

The irony of an in-your-face society is that ultimately everyone loses, because as moral certitudes fall by the wayside, it’s only a matter of time until free choice is lost as well.  When it’s acceptable for drag queens to run wild in the streets and brag that they are coming for your children, there’s no shortage of authoritarians who are quite happy to respond to cries from the majority to employ force to re-establish a stable, civilized society.

Everything in life has a price, and perpetual indulgence shoved in people’s faces is no exception.  Sodom and Gomorrah found that out the hard way.