Many age-old questions have puzzled mankind for generations. Examples include: did Oswald act alone? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Which is better, boxers or briefs? And of course, Bag’s personal favorite, Mary Ann or Ginger? Seemingly, there is no correct answer to any of these questions, as they are all subjective. The choices cannot be quantified, measured, or weighed in any scientific manner that will lead to an objective truth. Instead, individual feelings derived from life experiences will choose for us. Decision-making based on what feels good is perfectly fine in a subjective world. When the “feel good” decision mechanism creeps into objective reality, problems arise because what FEELS good is usually at odds with the reality of what IS good.
Consider one of the most Iconic scenes in all of cinematic history, at least as far as Bagholder is concerned. It came from the National Lampoon classic, Animal House. For those who have not seen the film, Bag will provide some context. Imagine a fraternity party, music blaring, alcohol flowing, and a boy wooing a girl. He manages to get her alone in an upstairs bedroom, her clothes come off, and just as they are about to get down to business - the alcohol kicks in, and she passes out. He was left with what many a teenage boy would perceive as a moral quandary for the ages. In bed with a naked woman who was completely willing moments ago, and likely sitting there with a hard-on a cat couldn’t scratch … he has the devil in one ear goading him to take care of business while an angel is in the other ear preaching morality.
That scene has always resonated with Bagholder as it perfectly matches his worldview. It demonstrates with remarkable clarity how we all have choices in life. In this instance, the conflict is between the immediate temptation to feel good and the moral imperative to do good. This same choice plays out in life, whether it is firing up that morning cigarette, wolfing down a quart of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey, polishing off a bottle of red, or popping (insert favorite anti-depressant here). Sure, in the moment, those things all FEEL good. But make no mistake, that feeling is ALWAYS temporary, and there are ALWAYS consequences. A life spent chasing what feels good is the well-trodden path to misery - ask any addict.
And yet, time and time again, institutions of every stripe seem to prioritize what feels good over what is good. Passing out Supreme Court seats based on gender & skin color as the most important consideration rather than merit might make some disenfranchised minorities feel good - but is that good for the country? Subsidizing wind farms and the solar industry with tax-payer dollars at the expense of the cheaper, cleaner, and safer nuclear alternative might make people feel good about being green - but is that what’s good for the country? Allowing the tired, poor, huddled masses from other countries to roam freely over our southern border might make people feel good about helping the oppressed of other nations, but is it really good for our country?
This begs the question: why does Government repeatedly seem to prioritize what feels good over what is good? The only thing that makes sense is that they know their decisions and the laws they enact are bad, but by shifting the public focus to feeling good, they can rally support and minimize dissent for those, usually self-serving, poor decisions. Our political leaders won’t even acknowledge the connection between their policy choices and the wake of societal carnage that follows. Instead, they double down on the misdirection of feel-good focus by injecting it into our schools and conditioning our youth to believe absolutes like right & wrong or success & failure don’t matter. What does matter is that Johnny is made to feel good for finishing 12th in the spelling bee, likely with a participation trophy.
Our top Universities are no better. They are far more concerned with having a racially diverse student body, than they are a student body consisting of our best and brightest, regardless of race. Is it any wonder that test scores here, relative to other countries, have been falling for decades? Students in the USA do not have much chance as the “feel good” nonsense being shoved down their throats only serves to blur the line between good and bad. This has the effect of stripping our nation’s young of morality by turning the black-and-white world of right and wrong, into a gray world where almost anything can be justified.
The government and our educational system are not the only ones to blame. Organized religion has been blurring the line between good and evil for centuries. Shortly after starting the first grade, Bag recalls being forced by his parents to attend “Sunday School.” It was a Church designed for young kids. Wearing our Sunday best, we would sit in a circle, and a guy wearing a robe would come in and hand out copies of a SACRED book containing story after story of Good and Evil. The part Bag struggled with then, and still, today, was all the stories had things backward. It was always the good guy (God) who was using threats & coercion to control man’s behavior…or…was laying waste to entire cities with acid/fire rain….or…. was sanctioning the torment of his most devout follower to win a bet….or….was drowning humanity with 40 straight days of rain. Even at six years old, all Bag could think was - How is this the good guy???
Conversely, the Devil offers mankind knowledge, freedom, and the chance to better themselves with it. Expecting nothing more in return than the bite of an apple, he provides humanity the right to make their own decisions. Sure, those decisions come with benefits and consequences. But if you ask Bag, the Devil’s offer of a life of deliberation, freedom, and responsibility is far better than God’s offer of a life of faith, servitude, and obedience. Nowhere in that Sacred book are there any examples of the bad guy killing people. Not one. The worst thing he does is grant mankind free will. And yet, somehow, we are supposed to believe this is the bad guy.
The decades Government, Schools, and Church have spent erasing the line between right and wrong has left a large percentage of our society unable to distinguish good from evil. This explains why we continue to elect and re-elect politicians who are, no matter the letter after their name, some of the most evil, amoral, and corrupt career criminals on the planet.
However, even after 5+ decades of living in a society where what feels good is increasingly championed over what is good, Bag still finds little pockets of hope. The backlash against Bud-Light for their feel-good woke advertising campaign is a good example. Another is the fact that more than 30 countries worldwide are in various stages of building nuclear power plants, regardless of how their citizenry feels about their environment. And yet another is the near-total collapse of sales for “Beyond Meat” - the world’s largest maker of plant-based fake meat. Speaking of collapsing sales, the cratering EV car market is further proof there is still a sizeable chunk of humanity who can see reality for what it is without regard to feelings.
Bag would acknowledge there is a time and place for feelings; it’s just that objective reality is not that place. Feelings need to be kept in the subjective world. For the record, Oswald did not act alone, the Egg, Boxers, and Mary Ann. And finally, In one of life’s little ironies, Bag believes those who opt to spend their days doing good, will find feeling good is a product of that choice. In other words, the feel-good/do-good dichotomy is a false one. By choosing the latter, you get both….By choosing the former, you get neither.
Made me think of a Jimmy Buffet song: https://buffettworld.com/albums/beach-house-on-the-moon/permanent-reminder-of-a-temporary-feeling/
And not only did the bad guy in the Bible not kill anybody, the good guy killed more humans than anyone in history, as well as almost all the animals once, then the good guy’s people had to continually sacrifice more animals to atone for their own sins. The Lord works in mysterious ways indeed!