People used to be taught to associate with persons who are good.  Since the cardinal sin is now viewed as having opinions about the matter, we don’t consider whether people are good any more.  Now we ask whether they are “nice.”

It is still a moral judgment, but it doesn’t look so much like one.

This way of thinking always reminds me of a man I used to know who was sentenced to the penitentiary for a felony.  After his release, we were chatting one day.

“You know,” he remarked, “you meet some of the nicest people in prison.”