{"id":25784,"date":"2025-09-23T08:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T12:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=25784"},"modified":"2025-09-23T08:45:58","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T12:45:58","slug":"the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html","title":{"rendered":"The Erosion of Consequences in American Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The events of this past week have left me exhausted, emotional, and deeply concerned about the state of American culture. I know many of you feel the same way. And it really doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum. Enough is enough.<\/p>\n

Moral collapse seems to be winning the day. In part, this is due to the growing absence of consequences for hateful, violent, and destructive words and actions.<\/p>\n

Take what happened recently in Dearborn. At a city council meeting, the mayor publicly berated and attempted to shame a minister who raised concern about naming a city street after a known pro-Arab terror leader. Instead of engaging in respectful dialogue, the mayor told the minister to leave the city<\/em> and even declared that he would celebrate when the minister was gone. The major demanding \u201ccoexistence\u201d was himself displaying total intolerance for anyone who dared to disagree. This is textbook projection\u2014accusing others of the very behavior one is guilty of. Yet the hypocrisy went unchallenged in the room. That silence is exactly the problem. When abusive behavior goes unchecked, it spreads. Citizens must be willing to stand up\u2014peacefully and respectfully\u2014to call it out so that accountability can follow.<\/p>\n

We see similar breakdowns elsewhere. In San Francisco, theft under $950 is considered a misdemeanor, but even then, offenders are rarely prosecuted. Businesses pay the price while thieves walk away unpunished. Why wouldn\u2019t those without a moral compass continue to steal when they face no real consequences?<\/p>\n

College campuses tell the same story. Students block classrooms, intimidate peers, and in some cases resort to violence, while administrators look the other way. No accountability. No discipline. And then we wonder why disorder, hatred, and destructive behavior spread unchecked.<\/p>\n

Frankly, I am tired of the constant name-calling and vitriol. It feels as though we live in a culture of emotionally stunted adolescents whose parents have long since given up, allowing them to run the streets unchecked. The hypocrisy of the accusations hurled back and forth is astounding. Both sides are guilty.<\/p>\n

Consequences matter. They are not merely punitive; they are deterrents. For too long, our culture has glorified or excused mean and destructive behavior. The media fuels this decay when it romanticizes criminals\u2014such as reporting on an assassin\u2019s \u201ctouching final exchange\u201d with his lover\u2014instead of confronting the horror of the act itself.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to stop justifying or ignoring harmful actions and words. It needs to stop.<\/p>\n

Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us, love wins the day, but love is actionable. It leads to kindness, respect, civility not violence and vile. Love is patient, it doesn’t envy or boast. It doesn’t dishonor others, is not easily angered, and does not delight in evil.<\/p>\n

Beyond the cultural decay, we must understand the eternal consequences when people turn away from God and make themselves the ultimate moral authority. Scripture warns us: \u201cEveryone did what was right in their own eyes\u201d (Judges 21:25). History shows\u2014and the Bible confirms\u2014that this path always ends badly. Without God\u2019s standard of truth and righteousness, consequences are not only temporal but eternal.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not wait until eternity to make these corrections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The events of this past week have left me exhausted, emotional, and deeply concerned about the state of American culture. I know many of you feel the same way. And it really doesn’t matter where you fall on the political spectrum. Enough is enough. Moral collapse seems to be winning the day. In part, this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":419,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[925],"tags":[9281,9275,732,9287,9278,9290,4288,9284],"class_list":["post-25784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mintle-mentions","tag-consequences","tag-erosion-of-consequences","tag-hate","tag-hypocrisy","tag-lack-of-consequences","tag-moral-collapse","tag-morality","tag-projection"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Erosion of Consequences in American Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The growing absence of consequences for hateful, violent, and destructive words and actions are taking a toll.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Erosion of Consequences in American Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The growing absence of consequences for hateful, violent, and destructive words and actions are taking a toll.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doing Life Together\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-23T12:30:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-23T12:45:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/09\/borders-3657020_1280.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda Mintle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@drlindamintle\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Erosion of Consequences in American Culture","description":"The growing absence of consequences for hateful, violent, and destructive words and actions are taking a toll.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Erosion of Consequences in American Culture","og_description":"The growing absence of consequences for hateful, violent, and destructive words and actions are taking a toll.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html","og_site_name":"Doing Life Together","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","article_published_time":"2025-09-23T12:30:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-09-23T12:45:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":853,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/09\/borders-3657020_1280.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Linda Mintle","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@drlindamintle","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html","name":"The Erosion of Consequences in American Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/09\/borders-3657020_1280.jpg","datePublished":"2025-09-23T12:30:17+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-23T12:45:58+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142"},"description":"The growing absence of consequences for hateful, violent, and destructive words and actions are taking a toll.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/09\/borders-3657020_1280.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/258\/2025\/09\/borders-3657020_1280.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2025\/09\/the-erosion-of-consequences-in-american-culture.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Erosion of Consequences in American Culture"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/","name":"Doing Life Together","description":"Relationship Doctor, Mental Health, Emotional Wellness, Relationship Advice & Entertainment","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/#\/schema\/person\/1e16a9c7332cfcc5b5d89e4ba3a36142","name":"Linda Mintle","description":"It is rare that a trained academic who speaks passionately to the heart of people providing real answers to real life problems is so relatable. Dr. Linda\u2019s fun personality and expertise comes through whether she\u2019s helping her audience stress less or make peace with their thighs! Dr. Linda has her Ph.D. in Urban Health and Clinical Psychology and is a national expert on mental health. She has specialized in the treatment of eating disorders, anxiety, depression and pain management. With 30 years of clinical experience working with couples, families and individuals, she brings her common-sense approach to people who want to live in positive mental health. Dr. Linda is also a bestselling author with 21 book titles to her credit, a radio host of the Dr. Linda Mintle show, professor, national speaker, winner of the Mom\u2019s Choice Award, a national news consultant, featured writer for Beliefnet and hosts her own website. Her academic appointments keep her abreast of current research in her areas of expertise. Her media experience includes seven years as the resident expert for ABC Family\u2019s Living the Life television show and regular appearances on network television and radio. It is often said that being with Dr. Linda is like having coffee with a friend. She makes the complicated issues of relationships and mental health easy to understand and applicable to everyday living. The ease she has with people, coupled with her clinical training and experience makes her a sought-after speaker on college campuses, conferences and special events. Whether she is doing a TV skit with Tim Conway or discussing teen violence with Queen Latifa, Dr. Linda will entertain, educate and integrate faith and mental health in everyday living. Check out her latest book Hope and Healing for Anxiety, a whole-person approach to eliminate anxiety. .","sameAs":["https:\/\/drlindamintle.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drlindamintle\/","https:\/\/x.com\/drlindamintle"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/author\/lmintle"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/419"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25784"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25805,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25784\/revisions\/25805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}