A Milwaukee man who attacked and violated a woman who was running a downtown Waukesha business has been given the maximum sentence for his crimes. In the September trial for his Feb. 23, 2023, attack, the victim provided a chilling quotation. Immediately after his brutal sexual assault, Wilson sought to “console” his victim by saying, “That’s what men do. They have urges and rage.”
The quote is noteworthy because our culture’s new ethic says to “live authentically” and just be our “genuine selves.” If that’s how this young man felt, and it agrees with everything he personally has been taught about manhood, how do we condemn his acting out his true feelings? How do we explain to such men that they ought not be “authentic” in this way?
Indeed, this is the absolute core of our cultural moment. Yes, this young man has “urges and rage” – and he genuinely feels this way. Who are we to say he must not live his life in perfect authenticity?
Find out what's happening in Waukeshafor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Simply put, sometimes we need to assert that “authenticity” is not the highest good. We need to look people in the face and say, with loving conviction, “No, you cannot live out the desires of your heart in this way, because the desires of your heart are corrupt – they are contrary to the standard passed on through the ages, a standard that comes ultimately from the revealed law of God.”
The man who is encouraged fight corrupt desires will generally find those urges weaken over time. The man who is encouraged to feed his corrupt desires will generally find that they become stronger and more corrupt over time. By writing “the good” into our laws and cultural norms, we can help men beat back their “urges and rage,” and a thousand other corrupt desires.
