Defining Deviancy Down, Defining Deviancy Up: Classic Charles Krauthammer (1993)

Jump to Comments

With a 2-month-old baby and a 3-year-old attention-grabber in the house, and a major project on the go at work, my blogging has been very light the past couple of weeks, and threatens to remain so into May. So, my dear visitors, read and discuss this lengthy but worthwhile transcript: “Defining Deviancy Up” (Charles Krauthammer’s address to the American Enterprise Institute, September 13, 1993). Fifteen years ago, the great columnist and commentator paired Daniel Patrick Moynihan’s theory of “Defining Deviancy Down” (the magic political trick of eliminating social problems by re-defining pathologies as normal) with his own corollary, “Defining Deviancy Up” (the elevating of deviant behavior, with the intended or unintended effect of making normal behavior appear deviant). Well worth a read, for a good understanding of how our society has devolved over the past 60+ years.

And, if you have any spare cash, please donate to the legal defense funds of Kate MacMillan, Kathy Shaidle, and Ezra Levant - blogging superstars who have been slapped with nuissance law suits by Canada’s one-man Human Rights Complaining industry, Richard Warman.  Free speech must be defended.

0 Comments

Filed under Free Speech For Me Not For Thee, Social Pathologies