At some point along the way, every child should have learned that actions have consequences. Unless, of course, you are the son of the President of the United States – Hunter Biden.
Or, it seems, any member of the Democratic party for that matter.
Miraculously, Hunter Biden has been able to do all the blow he wants, hire hookers, get involved with shady business dealings, and be absolved of any corruption or criminal activity.
Hunter Biden and a Two-Tier Justice System
In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash Vivek Ramaswamy laid out the uneven scales of justice that seem to be imposed in this country and the media’s culpability in allowing it:
“I think it is shameful that I as a competitor to President Trump in this race have to ask questions that the media isn’t asking. Ask the question. Get to the bottom of what Biden told Garland and what Garland told Jack Smith. If the same shoe fit the other foot you would not take their word at face value. Do not take their word now. Get to the bottom of it. Let’s actually restore journalism in this country. That’s what’s missing is getting to the truth.”
All in the Hunter Biden family have benefited immensely from the media’s willingness to look the other way.
The “Trauma” Excuse
There is also a bigger cultural dynamic in the justice system at play. One in which criminals must be pardoned for their behavior due to a “tough childhood” or a history of trauma.
Hunter Biden claimed that his addiction issues stemmed from the “serious trauma” of his mother’s 1972 car crash death.
Joe Biden won praise for his response to his son’s addiction problems in the 2020 presidential debate against Donald Trump.
One addiction specialist lauded Biden’s defense of his son as a “powerful message.”
“I think it was great to see Biden talk about his son with pride and really send the message to everyone who’s listening that substance use disorder is not something that families should be ashamed about or that people should be ashamed about, that this is something we can talk about, that this is a health condition,” she said. “To hear that declared nationally was a powerful message.”
The Biden team composed an entire campaign to “humanize” Hunter, including a memoir entitled “Beautiful Things,” which the younger Biden son admits to being “raw” by design. He claimed the book was written “for people just to know that they’re not alone.”
I have the utmost compassion for those struggling with mental health issues – which, by the way, is at an all-time high across the board from young children to adults. However, it does not and should not excuse illegal behavior, particularly for adults.
A wise therapist friend told me she often articulates to patients, “what happened to you isn’t your fault, but it is your responsibility.”
When society removes the measures that hold criminals accountable, no matter how small the infraction, we remove the mechanisms for individual and social change.
The Stigma of Shame
Furthermore, what is this obsession with removing shame from our society? Any criticism of someone’s poor behavior that leads to undesirable effects – whether it be eating habits, addiction, deviant sexual activity, or murder – is now taboo.
In an article in 2020, NPR scolded criticisms of Biden’s addiction issues, saying experts warned they “deepen stigma for millions.”
Shame, like any other emotion, can be used as an impetus for behavioral change. Of course, an inability to deal with shame in a healthy way can weigh heavy on a person and lead to destruction. However, removing shame altogether is not the solution, nor is it the government’s job to deal with it.
Shaping healthy and principled citizens is the domain of the institutions and pillars of virtue that our increasingly secular and self-centered culture has destroyed – those of schools, particularly higher institutions of learning, churches, family, and civic associations.
A society without shame reduces people to nothing more than accepting men for their lowest animalistic and tribal instincts. I would need a much longer essay to expound upon all the examples that exist today that demonstrate this truth. Although, I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to see it for yourself.
In our social media, overshare culture, no one has to go far to find empathy from someone dealing with similar tragedies as ourselves, willing to wallow in anguish. Do we really need a memoir from Hunter Biden to make us feel okay?
Misery indeed loves company, and without the people and penalties in place to set the boundaries of acceptable behavior, society would devolve into mass chaos and despair.
It seems we may already be there.
From 19FortyFive
Joe Biden Is Starting To Scare Everyone
