What do Liam Neeson and Ralph Northam, the Democratic governor of Virginia, have in common? They are both being punished and reviled for actions committed decades ago. They are not the only ones. The #MeToo movement seeks to pillory men not just for very serious sexual misbehaviour but also for trivial misdemeanors of decades ago. Meanwhile, there is an outcry about employers having access to irrelevant and minor convictions dating back to teenage years.
The message behind all these controversies is that society never forgives, forgets and wipes the slate clean. One can live nothing down. It is the inevitable product of the decline of Christianity, with social media now unchaining a culture of judgment and condemnation.
