More on Metrocons

Ilyka's pretty annoyed at the whole deal.

I thought this was pretty spot-on:

[I'm against] this insistence on declaring a subset of conservatism and applying a cutesy name to it, like, say, "Metrocon:"

See also: Crunchy Cons.

Do you notice how the proponents of these subsets are always really vain guys who want to place themselves into these subsets because they think they're better than plain old regular conservatives? "Unlike those ordinary conservatives, I buy my arugula from the farmer's market." "Unlike those ordinary conservatives, I do not wear Old Spice."

No one ever says, "Yeah, I like to think of myself as a Dumbhick Conservative," or "I'm really more of a JerkyCon, myself."

The subset always flatters the guy who identifies it. It's pure vanity.

True. It's also something that's really annoying about Andrew Sullivan. He's constantly attempting to redefine conservativism to better fit him (i.e., as liberalism), but also constantly patting himself on the back for not being one of those kinds of conservatives.

There is something juvenile about all that. I don't know what kind of conservative I am exactly; most of you don't know your exact political subspecies either, and I'm sure you don't have a cutesy name for whatever you are. There is the whiff of adolescent narcissism in this whole name-game thing. It's kind of like setting up a club with a kewwwwl name and hoping some other kids (hopefully either as kewl as you are even slightly kewler) will join and follo your clubhouse rules.

God, I hate Andrew Sullivan. Have I ever mentioned that?

posted by Ace at 11:48 PM

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