"The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don’t have to lie."

Andrew Klavan writing in the City Journal, noting leftism is little but an often-contradictory and frequently batty collection of white lies.

The thing I like best about being a conservative is that I don’t have to lie. I don’t have to pretend that men and women are the same. I don’t have to declare that failed or oppressive cultures are as good as mine. I don’t have to say that everyone’s special or that the rich cause poverty or that all religions are a path to God. I don’t have to claim that a bad writer like Alice Walker is a good one or that a good writer like Toni Morrison is a great one. I don’t have to pretend that Islam means peace. ...

This is leftism’s great strength: it’s all white lies. That’s its only advantage, as far as I can tell. None of its programs actually works, after all. From statism and income redistribution to liberalized criminal laws and multiculturalism, from its assault on religion to its redefinition of family, leftist policies have made the common life worse wherever they’re installed. But because it depends on—indeed is defined by—describing the human condition inaccurately, leftism is nothing if not polite...

Um, well, I'd disagree with that. Leftists' "politeness" is much like their regard and respect for humanity generally -- the love "the masses" (neatly abstract) but seem to hate actual people. Their "politeness" is of a formalized, abstract kind -- can't see this about that group -- but in terms of interpersonal, real politeness, they're among the most hateful and incivil in the world.

This is no small thing. To rewrite the rules of courteous behavior is to wield enormous power. I see it in Southern California, in the bleeding heart of leftism, where I live. I’ve been banned from my monthly poker game, lost tennis partners, lost friends—not because I’m belligerent but because I’ve wondered aloud if the people shouldn’t be allowed to make their own abortion laws, say, or if the world might not be a better place without the UN.

And there you go. The "politeness" spoken of is not a true politeness -- which is, of course, a favor paid to the world -- but rather a weapon to be used against any and all.

I got that from the guy who doesn't link.

posted by Ace at 01:17 PM

| Access Comments