My latest column is up at LewRockwell.com. It's a piece critical of voyeurism and exhibitionism, and the lack of privact boundaries nowadays. It was inspired by a public bulletin I saw in the Christian Science Monitor.

Then something odd happened late last night. I sat down to read The Detroit News September 5th edition, and I came across a Froma Harrop column on a very similar topic. We took quite similar views on private vs. public acts, though she focuses mainly on grief. I've written on that before, too; you can find it here.

I assume I'll be attacked for criticizing the coveted libertine society, by all of the usual, left-libertarians, libertines, hedonists, nihilists, narcissists, etc. That's par for the course. I'll know where to look for the criticism, and frankly, I'll be disappointed if I don't see it! I am getting good mail on this already. It seems some people are concerned with my last statement: "Can’t we arrive at an acceptable halfway house between Puritanism and complete depravity?" So I'll get criticism from some of the religionists and Puritans, too.

I'm a Catholic, but not a Puritan or a tyrant. (See Joe Farah for religious totalitarianism.) So, quite often, I will part from my religious friends on these issues. Religion is private and personal and voluntary; it is not for plundering others with your religious values. But I will definitely address that statement of mine in a day or two, in greater detail.

One more thing: I will paste over the Froma Harrop column below, because I believe that the Creator's Syndicate link to her will change rather than be permanent. It's a great column worth reading.

by Froma Harrop


All newspaper editors want to know what their readers like. If you would like to read this feature in your local newspaper, please do not hesitate to share your enthusiasm with your local newspaper editor.

FOR RELEASE: WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2003, AND THEREAFTER

There was a time when families and friends worked through their grief in private. An obituary in a local paper, a funeral and perhaps a memorial service made the loss public, but for a few days only. In the months and years following, the job of remembering fell chiefly to the people who knew the deceased.

Nowadays, Americans seem intent on drawing the public into private bereavement -- especially when the death is deemed untimely. What used to be regarded as unfortunate, but personal, tragedies are turned into civic events. We see this cultural change in the big memorial projects related to the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City attacks, and in the proliferation of roadside shrines to people killed in traffic accidents.

War memorials are easy to understand. They honor people who died serving the public. Even the memorials for victims of terrorism have their logic. They remind us that the victims were targeted precisely because they were ordinary people.

The high degree of personalization, however, is something new. In years past, a memorial marking the Oklahoma City bombing would have been a generalized affair. The names of the dead might have appeared on a plaque, but there would not have been 168 empty chairs, each dedicated to an individual. Consider that the names of American soldiers who die in war are usually listed on a single monument.

In establishing a federal victims' fund to support the survivors of people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks, Congress made an unprecedented leap toward turning personal tragedy into a public responsibility. The fund was a response to public horror over the carnage and the need to protect struggling airlines from bankrupting litigation. It also broke ground in obligating taxpayers to replace lost wages of people who die in specially recognized events.

Over the weekend, floods in Kansas tragically took the lives of several working parents. However, the government has no plans to send their children checks equal to the parents' projected lifetime earnings. (Nor does it compute what a 19-year-old soldier could have earned over the next 40 years and pay that amount to his widow or parents.)

By contrast, the tax-free awards going to families of 9-11 victims are averaging $1.6 million per death claim. This different treatment was possible, in part, because Americans experienced the terrorist carnage very personally, and not as a collection of random deaths.

The public does not identify so easily with families who lose loved ones in isolated car accidents. Thus, families and friends wanting to publicize these losses have turned to building roadside memorials -- usually crosses or other structures. Transportation officials complain that these shrines create a dangerous distraction for motorists.

The families counter that the shrines serve as warnings to reckless drivers, and in any case, they need the memorial for their personal healing. "I felt real good because I knew everyone cared," said a mother who helped place a memorial beside a North Carolina road where her son had died.

A Janesville, Wis., man said that erecting a roadside memorial for a daughter killed in an accident was very important to the family. "It's a place where we can gather, talk about what's happened and communicate anything that's new," he said.

Such activities used to take place at cemeteries. People would leave flowers beside a monument marking the deceased's remains. Generations past did not consider it necessary, or proper, for a family to take over a public right of way to mark their loss.

A few states ban roadside memorials, and many others regulate their use. Wisconsin last month issued guidelines allowing certain memorials to stay in place, but only for up to a year. Missouri lets families dedicate a length of highway to a crash victim, as long as they keep the stretch clear of litter.

Why, in a period of mourning, do modern Americans appeal to the same public that their ancestors withdrew from? Perhaps the fading boundary between the public and private in American life has drained such distinctions of meaning. Or perhaps many Americans no longer have intimate circles to comfort them and so must seek the sympathy of strangers. Whatever the reason, the change takes getting used to.

To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. Froma Harrop can be contacted via e-mail at fharrop@projo.com

COPYRIGHT 2003 THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL CO.

SYNDICATED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.