WHERE HAS ALL THE HONOR GONE?

James Bowman, Honor: A History (New Your: Encounter Books, 2006) (Has honor been disparaged and dismissed as obsolete in the America? The book seems to have adopted the "cash of cultures" paradigm, with Islamic east versus Judeo-Christian west. I do not embrace that paradigm. Still, it is worth questioning whether the West, and American in particular, has become a less honor-bound society. Have sincerity and authenticity replaced honor? Being true to oneself is not unimportant, but it pales against binding oneself to one's god. one's country, one's community, one's family . . . and requiring that these, in turn, hold themselves to high or sacred standards. The American Declaration of Independence ends with a pledge of our sacred honor. Sadly, no one talks in terms of 'sacred honor" these days . . . except Islamic warriors.).