PrintWhat I am concerned about at this point in our nation's history is the enemy within our culture and communities. If you like, I am concerned about the "Judas" who gives the appearance of being "one of us", of being "on our side", but who is just waiting for the optimum moment to betray us. In this case Judas is not so much a person but an attitude.
There are some activities and values that just about everyone in our nation's communities would acknowledge as wrong. There is no question but that these activities are our enemies. Domestic violence and paedophilia is to name just two. Condemnation of these two "enemies" is virtually universal. We somehow know that where these two (as well as others) are allowed to go unchallenged, our communities and our nation will suffer.
But there are other activities and values about which we are either ambivalent or enthusiastic. We think they are allies to be embraced and that their acceptance will strengthen our nation. Meanwhile these traitors establish themselves in our midst, deceptively cultivating our favour and acceptance but all the while they quietly wait for their time to come - the time when they will turn their destructive potential on us and we will see them for who they are. They are, and always have been, the enemy within.
I am thinking of the values and activities associated with abortion, same-sex marriage, euthanasia and the like. Generally speaking our society is embracing these kinds of activities/values as allies in our determination to be a free and progressive people - a people who have been freed from the taboos of the past.
What we are not seeing is the way we are welcoming the enemy within. Sooner or later we will learn to our detriment that those values we thought were our allies and that we advocated with enthusiasm turned out to be those who subsequently betrayed and enslaved us.
Our history when we were involved in combat as a nation is replete with examples of enemy infiltration accompanied by very clever but misleading propaganda. Similarly, our society has been infiltrated and we have believed the propaganda that we will be better off if we accept these values.
Take, for example, the grip that alcohol has on our society. I am not advocating prohibition or temperance or moderation. I am using this as an illustration (albeit a simple one) to try and explain a reality. Statistics reveal that alcohol is a major factor in domestic violence, road accidents and fatalities, brawls. Its negative impact on our society is both huge and undeniable. Yet there was a time when we demanded the lifting of prohibition laws and we welcomed this socially-acceptable companion into our homes, offices, clubs etc. But once established this "mole" or "sleeper" (to use the language of espionage) began to emerge and now we see it for the enemy it is.
Such has been the impact of this particular enemy within that we now seem hopelessly defeated. We acknowledge and lament its grip on so many lives. We plead with young people to stop their binge drinking. We appeal to all levels of society to help correct this destructive imbalance. But we seem powerless to counter, limit or reverse that impact. Our society is the prisoner of what we thought was an ally.
Is it too late to find a way of escape?
