Self restraint: from virtue to vice

I made this observation in a comment on another blog just now (Ignatius Press) and feel I should repeat alerting all to this important and destructive societal shift that occurred in the 1960's. I might write more on it, but I just want to spend a few sentences on the point at this time so you can consider it in your own research and contemplation.

Prior to the societal "revolution" in the 1960's "self restraint" was considered a virtue. This was true in all classes of society, all ages and both genders. It was considered a virtue that was taught to children and exercised by adults.

In the 1960's an amazing flip occurred that very few people noticed (I did) and I've not seen much written about it, precisely because what was once a virtue has been demonized as a vice. So why would any sociologists etc write about something they think was a "good" change instead of the incredibly destructive one that it has proven to be?

In the 1960's, almost in the blink of an eye, "self restraint" went from being a universally applauded virtue to a nearly instantly globally mocked sign of being "inauthentic." "Doing your own thing" and being "authentic" joined the other concept "relevance" to throw the concept of "self restraint" totally out of societal approval and instead, consider it to be the sign of a repressed and "inauthentic" person.

Thus practices such as natural rhythm method birth control, approved by the Catholic Church, were tossed out and mocked just as the scientific technology to provide tools to measure safe times for marital relations were being developed. A man and woman who did not "do it in the road" the very minute they felt the "urge" were viewed as "repressed" and "inauthentic."

This became true of virtually every societal breakdown and genuine vice we see the effects of today. Addictions of all kinds sprung up because someone who said "no" and had "self restraint" was viewed as "repressed" and "inauthentic." The same is true with having two married parents heading a family with one reliable breadwinner: this became viewed as "repressed" and "inauthentic" rather than an exercise in the virtue of self restraint.

Similarly, reckless driving, lack of politeness and the coarsening of society were all applauded as being "authentic" and "throwing off one's oppression" and again, self restraint was viewed as a sign of "repression" and "having authenticity issues" (though the word issues came into play decades later, in the 1990's really). But I use it because young readers will know what I mean. People who still tried to exercise "self restraint" in their lives were viewed as having what we would call in the pop lingo "issues" rather than being virtuous.

I cannot overemphasize how seismic this dramatic, sudden and wrong-headed shift was for our society locally and globally, and how destructive it has been, and how is to this day, due to lack of understanding it's power, sabotages well meaning discourse on virtually ever subject.

One more comment. This is why this generation feels a hunger for the virtue of self restraint that their parents withheld and mislead them about totally, but this generation does not recognize that self restraint is what they are looking for. So they adopt practices such as painful tattoos, not for the body art aesthetic, if they really self analyzed, but because in managing the pain and making a "statement" they are providing a substitute for their own "self restraint." It is like how gangs spring up and flourish where there are no traditional families. This generation does some strange extreme things because they are "testing their limits," but what this really is in fact is a reflection of their not being taught how to have dignified limits from their very childhood, and that is what "self restraint" really is: dignified limits that are self imposed in a virtuous fashion. Into the vacuum, therefore, of no "self restraint" pours new behaviors that both seek limits while defying them, whether it is pain or extreme sports, over achieving, etc. You've been brainwashed into thinking that if you have one flicker of thought about something, and if it is "doable," then you should do it. I could list examples I see on the news everyday, but genuinely have no desire to hurt anyone. But think about it; you'll know what I mean.

This MUST be addressed.