One thing that can't be denied about morality is that it's costly. You don't just come by it for free. Nobody does.
You can likely point out times when your morality cost you something. A friend or a job. Maybe you lost out on a financial opportunity because you couldn't engage in whatever they were doing to make money. Maybe there were times when you lay awake at night, unable to sleep, because you knew that backlash was coming your way after you stood by your moral principles and couldn't back down despite your fear.
I've been through all those moments. So far, thankfully, I haven't had to die for my morals. Some have, and horribly to boot.
But that's how you know your morality is real. You have moments of absolute loss because of it, and you still keep with it because having a good moral compass is something of a selfless act that enriches the world around you. Not to say you never get anything out of it, but peace of mind is definitely one of the bigger benefits.
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But there's morality, and then there's "morality," and there's so much of the latter in this day and age that it's not surprising why people see humanity getting less and less substantial. Their moral foundations are made of sand, yet these people believe they're better than everyone else because their morality is "of the times."
If you've never heard of a guy named Caleb Hammer, you should really get to know him. He runs a web show called "Financial Audit," where he flies people down to Austin, Texas, to appear on his show and help them get their finances in order. It sounds kind of boring on the surface, until you realize that the people he often brings on are the most irresponsible, unhinged, and infuriating people you could ever meet.
Hammer doesn't pull any punches with them. He doesn't attempt to be polite. He speaks the truth no matter how much that truth might hurt.
To be clear, Hammer isn't a villain in any regard. People who genuinely need help despite being responsible and selfless are those whom Hammer genuinely respects and serves to the best of his ability. If you're a selfish, stupid, and irresponsible person, however, Hammer is going to say so, and he does so in ways that are so eloquent he'll have you pumping your fist into the air and cheering him on while on your couch.
This one clip came across my feed this morning, and it features Hammer interacting with your standard Gen-Z leftist who "cares." She and Hammer get into a debate about economics, and it's pretty clear right off the bat that this girl knows nothing about it, yet she holds herself as morally superior in every way.
Hammer calls this kind of morality a term that I think is absolutely perfect: "moral masturbation."
The clip is four minutes long and contains cursing, but I can't recommend you watch it enough.
@financepodcastclipss The minimum wage debate exploded part 1 @Caleb Hammer #financialfreedom #financialaudit #calebhammer #finance ♬ original sound - Finance Podcast Clips
What's interesting here is, as Hammer points out, the girl doesn't seem all that interested in outcomes. What happens as a result of her "morality" isn't what matters. What matters is how she's perceived by her peers and, in a way, herself, for having the moral stances she has. She wants her morality to sound good. She wants to seem good, but if you really look under the hood, she doesn't actually care about any of the people she claims to care about.
What she cares about is how she's perceived.
If tomorrow, the entirety of the Left decided that deporting illegal immigrants was actually good, this girl would suddenly change her tune and think the same. Her shift wouldn't even be a problem for her. The ultimate "good" isn't goodness, it's what people think about her goodness. She doesn't have any principles beyond what benefits her socially.
Her morality costs nothing because she doesn't really have one. She thinks the expression of caring is moral enough.
Her morality accomplishes nothing. In fact, it gets in the way of everyone else's good work because the outcome is too often contradictory to the expressed beliefs, but again, the outcome doesn't matter. She'd let a city burn if it meant she could continue virtue signaling, and as we've seen, cities have burned over her kind of morality.
In the end, it costs her nothing, but it costs the rest of us too much.
