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Monday, May 26, 2008
Illiberal Guilt
Ezra Klein praises Ron Rosenbaum's praise of liberal guilt. He laments the convervative "sleight-of-hand... [that has] recast feeling guilt as a character flaw, as political weakness, as soft-headed emotionalism." Then he renders this revealing formulation.
I myself don't feel guilt over actions I didn't commit, because there is no reason to. Klein appears to allow for guilt arising from indirect culpability. The notion that I should espouse a politics that seeks to make me -- the product of an Italian immigrant and Jews who fled the pogroms -- indirectly responsible for Jim Crow and similar crimes is offensive without the help of conservative legerdemain.
Illiberal Guilt
Ezra Klein praises Ron Rosenbaum's praise of liberal guilt. He laments the convervative "sleight-of-hand... [that has] recast feeling guilt as a character flaw, as political weakness, as soft-headed emotionalism." Then he renders this revealing formulation.
People don't like to feel guilt, particularly over actions they didn't directly commit.
I myself don't feel guilt over actions I didn't commit, because there is no reason to. Klein appears to allow for guilt arising from indirect culpability. The notion that I should espouse a politics that seeks to make me -- the product of an Italian immigrant and Jews who fled the pogroms -- indirectly responsible for Jim Crow and similar crimes is offensive without the help of conservative legerdemain.
Labels: Ezra Klein, liberals
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