Misplaced Leftist Outrage
“You conservatives are all happy the unemployment numbers are up because it makes the president look bad.” Heard that one before? I have.
There’s a certain type of outrage particular to leftists which is reserved not for the political authorities responsible for economic failure, scandal, or corruption, but for the political opponents of the culpable politician who are assumed to be rejoicing over their opponent’s latest failure.
We saw it with Solyndra: great howls rose up from the left over the supposed political opportunism of the GOP. According to the common narrative, Republicans were merely exploiting the Solyndra story to make the president look bad because they hated him so much.
It’s misplaced anger. Leftists should be angry with President Obama for his failures in handling the economy and for his administration’s exposed habit of corruption that continues to come to light. Instead they’re angry at anyone who might benefit from the revelation of dark truths.
This characteristic of the left is nothing new. Writing in 1976 on European “Leftism” (in an essay included in Ricochet Member Flagg Taylor's The Great Lie), French thinker Raymond Aron described the same peculiar trait among European Leftists.
… “Leftism” is, so to speak, the elaboration of the principle according to which everything is measured by two different scales. It matters little what a man of the Right actually says, his views will be rejected in advance. If he mentions Soviet concentration camps, then it is not because he loves freedom and loathes the repression of one man by his fellows, but because for reasons which he cannot admit he has chosen the camp of the “Rightists” (or the conservatives, or the reactionaries)…
And of Leftist poster boy Jean-Paul Sartre, Aron wrote:
At a time when people in the West were discussing the fact that there were concentration camps in the Soviet Union, [Sartre] directed his anger not so much against the Soviet authorities who had established these camps, nor against the Communists who had denied their existence, but against the anti-Communists and the so-called Rightists who were suspected of rejoicing in the fact.
I find some strange, perverse comfort in learning that there are substantial precedents for the seemingly irrational behavior of American liberals. Though leftist ideology may be thoroughly unreasonable, at least it's completely consistent.
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Misplaced Leftist Outrage
For me it is like the old joke about your mother-in-law driving off a cliff in your Mercedes: mixed emotions. (but not my mother-in-law who is dandy and reads Ricochet.)
Mar '11
Re: Misplaced Leftist Outrage
Pseudodionysius
Casey: “You conservatives are all happy the unemployment numbers are up because it makes the president look bad.”
Absolutely true... every last member of Ricochet is doing his best to post, comment, and podcast his way to the unemployment line. We'll show them! · Dec 6 at 11:26am
That's two funnies, two consecutive days. Clearly, you are a threat to my self esteem and I must find a way to distract you. · Dec 6 at 11:30am
I swear, if I wake up with a blob of Laxatone on my nose, I'll scratch your eyes out!
Sep '10
Re: Misplaced Leftist Outrage
Casey
Pseudodionysius
Casey: “You conservatives are all happy the unemployment numbers are up because it makes the president look bad.”
Absolutely true... every last member of Ricochet is doing his best to post, comment, and podcast his way to the unemployment line. We'll show them! · Dec 6 at 11:26am
That's two funnies, two consecutive days. Clearly, you are a threat to my self esteem and I must find a way to distract you. · Dec 6 at 11:30am
I swear, if I wake up with a blob of Laxatone on my nose, I'll scratch your eyes out! · Dec 6 at 1:17pm
Hey, I'm an artist, don't pressure me.
Nov '11
Re: Misplaced Leftist Outrage
I don´t quite catch the comment. Could you expand, please? (Don´t worry, "leftie" talk is a bit more dogmatic.)
Apr '11
Re: Misplaced Leftist Outrage
Diane Ellis, Ed.
This reminds me of an exchange I had with a liberal friend of mine who asked me if it's indeed true that "conservatives prioritize defeating Obama in the next election over the well-being of the country."
I responded that a) defeating the incumbent is always a top priority for the challenger because b) it's a prerequisite for changing the policies of the country, such that it can once again flourish.
My friend thought that response really greedy of me... · Dec 6 at 11:48am
I've also been asked similar questions by liberal friends.... it's annoying partially because I think there's nothing to prioritize. Those options are one in the same: we want Obama defeated specifically for the well-being of the country!
Feb '11
Re: Misplaced Leftist Outrage
Pseudodionysius
That's two funnies, two consecutive days. Clearly, you are a threat to my self esteem and I must find a way to distract you.
I have lived almost my entire life (I'm retired now) with Persian cats. Persian cats have elevated condescension to an art form. Actually, even condescension is beneath them. The most arrogant progressive on Earth is a rank amateur compared to even a six week old Persian kitten. Nothing can shake their self esteem. Find a comfortable spot and survey your realm.
Edited on Dec 6, 2011 at 3:26pmDec '10
Re: Misplaced Leftist Outrage
Diane Ellis, Ed.
... But this peculiar habit of expressing outrage at political opponents for the flaws of one's own guy seems to me to be unique to the left. And I think it stems from something beyond the impulse to behave like children. But precisely whence it stems, I can't quite figure out.
May I? Thank you.
The lefties we're psychoanalyzing are generally highly intelligent, educated (I will not say "highly" because they seem to have neglected the Western canon), and good-hearted. Having established their status with us and with themselves as smart and good, the fact of the destructiveness of their policy preferences is a perfect set-up for cognitive dissonance. They're functionally atheist as well, so they tend to self-deify, thereby internalizing the source of all good and externalizing the source of all evil.
This is where conservatives come in. Because we oppose their ideas, we become that external source of evil. We can't possibly mean well. They've already occupied that turf. And by extension, their policy failures must be the result of conservative obstructionism.
As Prager says, we believe they're wrong; they believe we're evil.
Sep '10
Re: Misplaced Leftist Outrage
Snow Bird
Pseudodionysius
That's two funnies, two consecutive days. Clearly, you are a threat to my self esteem and I must find a way to distract you.
I have lived almost my entire life (I'm retired now) with Persian cats. Persian cats have elevated condescension to an art form. Actually, even condescension is beneath them. The most arrogant progressive on Earth is a rank amateur compared to even a six week old Persian kitten. Nothing can shake their self esteem. Find a comfortable spot and survey your realm. · Dec 6 at 3:20pm
Edited on Dec 06 at 03:26 pm
I like them already, though you may have noticed my avatar is a 20lb Siberian cat. He would deal with the Persians in the usual way: Spetsnaz