The Other McCain on Morality

How many people on blogs or on social media reference John Stewart Mill and On Liberty? Not too many, and I do love the way The Other McCain works classical education into his writing. Peer Pressure and Morality: Or, Why Do ‘Girls Go Wild’ in Daytona Beach?

This is an examination of the Left, and their disdain for taking responsibility for the consequences of their actions. They go along with the crowd to fit in. (In extreme cases, not going along with the crowd will unleash cancel culture.)

In his most famous work, On Liberty, Mill famously described “the tyranny of the majority,” by which he meant not merely the possibility of despotic action under democratic governments, but more specifically what he called “the moral coercion of public opinion.” In other words, although we might be free to do as we please without fear of legal punishment, at the same time, we are discouraged from acting in any way that is unpopular or unconventional because we fear the disapproval of others. Mill called this “social tyranny.”

While Mill was referencing 1800s England, the cancel culture of social media is an extreme example of this today. Conform. Believe what we tell you believe. Step a toe out of line, and you will be ostracized.

But Robert Stacy McCain is talking about Spring Break in Florida.

Obviously, girls who act like this — racking up a “body count” of 12 in a single week? — have no fear of the kind of repressive social tyranny that John Stuart Mill criticized in Victorian England. Why is that?

From there McCain goes on to discuss Ella Dawson. If you've forgotten who she is, he will refresh your memory. I will only say that like so many people, she doesn't believe that she bears no responsibility for the completely foreseeable consequences of her actions. In other words, she's a typical liberal. Click thru.