JAYSON BLAIR AND FATHER SHANLEY

I won't link to a story, since you know the relevant facts and all I have is one analogy and brief speculation.

The analogy is: New York Times editors held Jayson Blair to account the same way Catholic bishops held pedophile priests to account.

The speculation is: To a great degree, our elites have lost the concept of original sin and the consequent need for us to hold our neighbors to high moral standards.

The old view held that people will fall or rise to the standards others set for them. If others will support us, we'll be lazy; if drunkenness holds no consequences, we will never give up alcoholism. On the other hand, if others demand much from us, we're liable to rise to heroic heights. And the old view held that it mattered whether people were good or bad, whether they made the most of their talents or the least.

The new view is 'the soft bigotry of low expectations.' Enforce no standards, never punish vice, give no rewards to virtue.

Catholic bishops, who should know better, failed to hold criminal priests to account. New York Times editors repeatedly allowed Jayson Blair to get away with fraudulent journalism. Both groups forgot that sometimes the only true love is tough love.