Mary Cassatt: Reading the Newspaper, No.2 (c. 1883)

"…Decency itself falls far beneath us."

Few behaviors disgust me more than sacrosanctity, that self-important quality affected by those insisting that they’re our betters. It doesn’t matter to me upon which basis this flaw manifests; each seems adequately disgusting, but at the peak, for me, stand those who deign to claim sole possession of some certain Moral Highground. Whether priest or heretic, the arrogance off-puts. It seems to negate whatever favorable inference their morality might otherwise make. Those who feel the need to advertise their goodness seem fundamentally dishonest. Decency suggests that good character needs no promotion and might only thrive in more humble circumstances. To promote it is to undermine it.

I hold the so-called “religious right” in particular contempt, for their brand of righteousness seems to rely upon them standing on some people’s necks. They exhibit extreme contempt for those who, in their arrogant eyes, have fallen short. They seem to want to make a federal case out of every shortcoming and a sin out of every difference. They treat those who worship different gods, or even no gods, worse than lepers. They puff themselves up with pious self-righteousness, which seems terribly wrong to me. I contend that anyone who thinks themselves superior automatically disproves their point.

Decency’s first principle insists that all people are created equal. Inequality lies exclusively in the eye of some beholder and seems fundamentally indefensible. That old American Express advertisement insisting that “rank has its privileges” was indecent. Frequent flier miles likewise serve as an enticement away from Decency’s sphere, where some people get treated as special due to some entirely superficial attribute. Those in first class seem much worse off than the poor devil sitting next to a cranky baby in the last row, where the seats don’t recline. Those who can’t hold out for a beverage until reaching cruising altitude were lost before they entered the aircraft. They might have been created equal, but they headed downhill from there, especially if they tout their privilege while preening.

If this American experiment ever fails —if an autocratic regime ever replaces it —it will likely have failed because it insisted that Americans held some Moral Highground. We will come to believe ourselves righteous in ways that no Decent person ever has, and we will seek to vanquish those refusing to worship our mammon. We will, of course, only assault Decency to save it, in the same way that we will believe we have been saved. Our heaven on Earth might well seem like Hell for those inhabiting moral low ground, those sporting pronouns and supporting their right to abortion. The sin will come from denying liberty and justice to anyone who doesn’t share our Moral Highground. The crimes will come with public prayers and crocodile fealty. We will conveniently forget our history in favor of more popular fiction where insurrectionists are the best Christians and Decency itself falls far beneath us.

©2025 by David A. Schmaltz - all rights reserved

Tags: #Decency, #PureSchmaltz