Art and Vomit

I recently responded to someone expressing dismay about the fantastic display of art seen in the Lady Gaga set last week at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, in which Gaga had someone vomit on her multiple times (not that once is less scandalous) apparently as an expression of art. 

(In my response, I didn't think to raise the question of whether the offense is mitigated by the fact that the one who vomited is a genuine vomit artist?) 

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The popularity of people like Lady Gaga, Chelsea Handler, Pink, and others in the moral and intellectual vacuum in which they live, is one of the clearest demonstrations of the moral vertigo that inevitably results when people jettison the fact of God. The extremely pervasive view on ethical standards in western culture today is that of autonomy; the standard that determines right and wrong is only within one's self. What's right for you may not be for me, etc. It's a subjective rather than objective view of morality, with one exception for the rule of consent, which says the only thing that makes any behavior wrong is that it imposes something on someone who is unwilling. So, whatever the behavior is, as long as it takes place among "consenting adults," it's acceptable. 

This may sound appealing to those who are ignorant of the reality revealed in the Bible. But even if someone is ignorant of the message of Scripture, this approach to morality ends up with bestial, absurd behavior--behavior that ultimately violates the basic traits that make us human--as so clearly demonstrated by Lady Gaga. Almost always, when people are not guided by a reverence for God, they will not then be guided by reason, but by raw visceral appetite. 

Lady Gaga is also an outspoken advocate for gay rights, and a self-proclaimed "bi-sexual" (though I realize that's a nonsensical term). But, if the general thinking behind the gay rights movement--that consent is the only moral standard, and that being born with a desire automatically validates it--is correct, then how can there be anything wrong with vomiting on a singer as an expression of art? All those involved freely chose to be. And, of course, what they were doing they naturally wanted to do. In fact, what would make anything wrong as long as those doing it did so willingly? Assisted suicide, prostitution, open marriages, all take place among "consenting adults." By what standard should these things be judged if our moral compass is of our own making?

The irony in all this is that even the most debased and morally depraved people still find reasons to fight for justice (funny how they can't get rid of that concept). But if each person decides what's right and wrong independently from an objective, Divine authority, what meaning could justice have? From where do people like Lady Gaga get their idea of justice and the conviction that all people are to be treated with respect and equality? If, like the rest of of her moral convictions (or lack thereof), they come only from her own feelings, then how can she demand that other people heed her call for justice? Maybe her idea of fairness and equality for those that were "born that way" isn't right for someone else? 

MM