Tuesday, July 22, 2003
The Fear of Being Right
Instapundit linked to the Angry Clam's outing of Berkeley's psychoanalysis of the right-wing mindset.
If I could still be offended by leftist idiocies, I would be.
But we've had debates at my church over the past few months (the clergy is quite a bit to my left), and I have realized what the Left's problem is: They're afraid of being right.
Sure, not everyone on the Left is a Christian, so my sample is skewed: but I think my observations of the Christian Left do apply to the rest of them as well.
Christians are required, after all, to proclaim the unique truth of the Gospel; liberal priests won't do that. Instead, they'll have interfaith councils with Muslims and Hindus and Wiccans and such. In fact, the assistant minister told me that she would be very uncomfortable in a world where everyone was a Christian.
And so to politics. If you are right -- and I mean absolutely right, not merely that you think (or, more likely, feel) that you're right or that your opinions are right for you -- I mean objectively, undoubtedly, unquestionably right -- then you will be obligated both to tell others that they are wrong and to act.
But that would be intolerant. It's a far, far better thing to do to wrestle -- as publicly as you can manage -- with your doubts and dither until the debate has been decided.
Then you can start complaining all over again. That way your superior morality can never be questioned, and you can continue to look down upon simplisme. By looking down on others, you can be guaranteed to please yourself, no matter how much you have to overlook to do it.
To put it simply -- which is all I can do, being a right-winger and all -- the Left has become the party of masturbation fantasies.
Dr. Jocelyn Elders for President!
posted by vepxistqaosani 11:41 PM
