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When A Strength Becomes a PathologyHow did Self-Criticism Devolve into Self-Hatred (in the West)?

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Earlier today, I read a piece by Rich Lowry which started to get at a notion which has fascinated me for some time now. Why do so many intellectuals and their allies on the left have so much hatred, so much contempt for the United States, their own nation? They seem to think that we could fix every evil in the world if only our nation changed its behavior.

Writing today in the National Review, Rich Lowry observed:

A strength of the West always has been its ability to generate self-criticism. (As long ago as 1901, a British politician was complaining that “eminent men write and speak as if they belonged to the enemy.”) This makes it easier to correct errors and avoid excesses. The problem is, if the self-criticism becomes too sweeping and unrelenting, it amounts to a kind of self-sabotage, as it did in the mid-1970s when the United States lost the Vietnam War by refusing even to provide aid and air support to the South.

It seems that we have let our strength evolve, er, devolve rather into a weakness. We begin by looking at our own flaws and end up focusing on them, as if all that were necessary were for our side to correct its flaws, then our enemies would stop hating us and lay down their arms and become our friends.

And some in the West see the flaws as the defining factor of a nation.

How is it that self-criticism became self-hatred? That instead of seeing our flaws as a part of a generally good system, we let them define the system. When they look at American history, some see such horrors as slavery, racism and other forms of intolerance and discrimination as dispositive of our nation’s evil rather than as terrible aspects of an otherwise good system while barely noticing that we have worked — and are still working — to overcom these horrors.

It is a topic that I wish to address in subsequent posts. I’d hesitated on blogging about it earlier today because I haven’t really flesh out my thoughts. But, in the spirit of my vow to do more T-shirt blogging this year, I’ll put the idea out there and invite your comments. Perhaps, in responding to your thoughts, I might better be able to articulate my own.

Comments

  1. I think it is because lefties tend to be like children – not adults.
    One thing a child learns early on, is that if they do something to please the parent – they get rewarded. And when they do wrong – they are simply asked to be contrite, not to really repent and change behavior.

    A good parent will gradually teach a child as he grows that contrition, and being nice isn’t enough. One must take responsiblity for ones actions. And there are times in life when the action isn’t nice. Like when one stands up to the bully, and actually fights back, either to stop the bully or to protect oneself.
    But leftys’ don’t want to grow up, they don’t want the responsiblities of adults – so they stay in that childish mode of just ‘playing nice’.
    Their big mistake is thinking that all those nasty people and nations out there aren’t the bully, they are the parent and will respond to nice behavior like a parent would.

  4. Perhaps part of the problem is that in addition to an ongoing focus on our nation’s sins, our academics and critics have stopped believing in the possibility of change (dare I say repentence?). A person’s racism doesn’t die when he chooses to change his behaviors, for example – it just becomes unconscious, and you can still condemn him. If you can come up with theories that support the proposition that nothing ever gets better, you can justify never-ending criticism and the eventual belief that the only way to atone for the sins of the past is to destroy the “sinner” entirely. Thus, they never stop hating the US, no matter what it does today. It’s never enough, because these critics simply do not believe in forgiving.

  5. If it has changed I think it’s either caused by multi-culturalism or else whatever causes it caused both things.

    The effort to wipe out racism gone astray?

    I think that we’ve always been critical of ourselves. The idea that anyone is prone to nothing but jingoistic cheer leading doesn’t stand up to any objective observations. We just used to understand our good parts too.

    The very heart of multi-culturalism is that we must not hold one culture over another. What this amounts to in practice is that we must not criticize people different from ourselves, people in different groups than we are. Therefore we can only criticize ourselves and we can’t then take that valid criticism and compare it to the world at large and point out that we really do have a better system and principles that deserve to be supported.

    Just the other day I was told, yet again, that I can’t understand the experiences of people who are a different ethnicity than myself. This is a classic racist or anti-racist meme. Both. This is in opposition to any sort of “color blind” ideas as it explicitly demands that we accept that those other people over there are *different*.

    We see it applied to women and men. How many men feel unqualified to have an opinion about abortion for that very reason?

    In that context it seems a bit like a tool to win arguments. “You can’t know what it’s like to be me,” is an argument winner. I am always right no matter what.

    In any case, it’s part of multi-culturalism and “tolerance” as practiced.

  6. It’s the fault of the 1960s and the draft and deferments.

    People were, legitimately, scared. The Domino Theory was very abstract (and the man-on-the-street didn’t really care about Vietnam one way or the other). That led a lot of people to question authority and go to college. This is where the problem started. Going to college to avoid the draft was cowardly (but not unreasonable). That left those people with two choices: Admit their cowardice or turn cowardice into a virtue. Most chose the latter by “fighting the system”. The problem is, even that was cowardly: The “system” didn’t really fight back: Compare Kent State to Tiannemen (sp?) Square.

    Many of them still cannot admit their cowardice and still must denigrate the system that forced such a choice upon them. Many of these people have remained in academia ever since. Their warped view of their own actions have influenced all their students.

    It’s all entirely understandable but horribly pathetic. The “greatest generation” did a horrible job of raising their children.

    (this isn’t my theory although I believe it is somewhat accurate. I cannot source it – the original goes into much more depth)

  9. oh my, maybe you could stop wondering why by looking at your rhetoric. use of words like “our side” aren’t helpful. the bigger problem is though: we are crazy to let corporations anywheres near our government. and if you really think about it, then “we the people” will have meaning.

  11. Personally, I hate that term “self-criticism.” It calls to mind Maoist thinkspeak, reeducation camps and any suppression of individual thought.

    But enough about the Democrats for now.

    Regards,
    Peter H.

  12. Like you, I haven’t given it enough thought on the subject just yet, but I suspect the whole “critisizm” thing begins with feelings of superiority. Of course “we” can do better; we can help poor nations, we can solve problems, because WE ARE OMNIPOTENT.

    “We” have to help in the MidEast, we have to “deal with” China, Russia, et al, because we are omnipotent. Africa is a mess because we’re not doing enough to help. Every other system of government is inferior in some way.

    I’m not saying I believe we’re superior or that feelings of superiority are the root of ALL self-flagellation, but a lot of it sure seems to stem from self-importance.

    (Or … Maybe I shouldn’t post just before bedtime … ?)

  13. There is a parallel with our two major parties. The Democrats tend to look the other way when one of their own commits crimes or behaves unethically. Republicans tend to punish their own. Had the Monica Lewinsky affair been Republican, the President wouldn’t have lasted a week not because Democrats would have demanded his resignation (which they would), but because fellow Republicans wouldn’t want the titular head of their party known as the world’s most famous philanderer and liar.

    Guilt by association is a powerful incentive for loathing, self or otherwise. When American history is taught from the perspective of exploitation rather than from its proud record of liberty and long fight for civil and individual rights, then the obvious results are those who hate anything associated with the United States.

  15. “we are crazy to let corporations anywheres near our government”

    No, we’re crazy to let the government anywhere near our corporations.

    Comment by rightwingprof — April 7, 2007 @ 11:01 am – April 7, 2007
    how fricken lame is the above. oh, that’s right. nothing but corporate fascist in here. well, at least corporate slavery is considered by some as a form of government.

  16. Lefties got it wrong from the get go. Communism and socialism have produced so much horror that they have to hate themselves. Putting the whole west in the same pot they pretend to dilute the guilt. Calling nazi whoever that is not in the left helps spice the stew. After all, if we are a bunch of nazis and communists, it is easy to hate ourselves.

  17. I love how much people talk about the evils of socialism and communism, when the American system is not a straight captialist system…it is a mixed economy. I don’t know why people have such a hard time understanding that, all market need some type of regulation to work out the best. We have dozens of social programs that have helped people and we have several programs that help corporations keep afloat, government can be a good tool when used correctly

    Anyway, I think the reason for the current self hatered comes from the fact that liberals when they refer to America, they are refering to the Bush Administration. They really are directing their criticisms towards him but often try to expand it to all outlets of a Republican government. I do think they will have a problem now, considering Democrats run one of the branches now. Liberals love America as much as anyone else, they just feel she is being drug through the mud by conversatives/Republicans. I really don’t see it that way but I believe it explains the situation, since I don’t think the self criticism was as prevelant during the Clinton Era. I was little young though to remember that though, so maybe someone else can give perspective on that.

  18. oh juan and others. “You don’t understand the power of the dark side. I must obey my master.” just say no to the dark side…..btw.. if compulsory education isn’t socialism, i don’t know what is??

  20. I welcome this discussion in ways I can barely put into words. Thank you, Dan. My own intellectual formation (or deformation) has been a direct result of not being able to discern between self-criticism and self-hatred — that that is the troubled West’s troubled intellectual legacy helps to put it into pitiable, but also formidable, perspective.

    My strong initial reaction to Lowry is to insist that Western intellectual self-hatred predates postmodern and New Left trends. To wit:

    * To be an intellectual — a scholar, a thinker, an artist, a writer — was not good enough. Not even “the production of literary masterpieces” was good enough: one had to change the world. Nor was it even good enough to be, as Shelley had said the poets were, the unacknowledged legislators of the world: they had to be acknowledged, they had to exercise actual political power.
    Norman Podhoretz on self-hating intellectuals, Breaking Ranks(Harper & Row, 1979), p. 362. I recommend also by him Making It and Ex-Friends.

    * perhaps also Virginia Woolf’s Three Guineas, her feminist tract deploring the (men of the) 1930s pacifist (i.e., appeasement) movement for not recognizing women as equals. (I.e., an intra-Left intellectual struggle).

    * Robert Bork’s general claim in Slouching Towars Gomorrah that American cultural decline may be irreversible and that its sources may predate the 20th Century. (Unfortunately, he does not tackle what those sources may be; it’s merely his jumping off point for analyzing post-World War II American culture.)

    If anyone can recommend any secondary literature on the Woolf and Bork titles, please do (whether here or by email)!

  22. naughty, naughty bushies. way to go!!! get north korea to sell arms to fight the surrogate war in somalia and don’t tell anyone. “but ya gotta do what ya gotta do” to protect america. but then again you can also do the goodling thing and take the fifth to hide. is it little wonder that one can hardly say republican and maleficence and not mean it. shame on our government..

  24. Communism and socialism have produced so much horror that they have to hate themselves.

    Heck no. Libs love it. They admired their “Uncle Joe” and his gulags, show trials and trials-in-abstentia(sp?). That’s what they wish they could do here. Why do you suppose they’re still pi$$ed that Alger Hiss got nabbed? Why do they still love Castro & Guevara? Nevermind that they slaughtered gays, but libs can’t stand “those fags” anyway.

  26. I love how the BDS folks carp about Bush alledged “Staying the course” and not adapting to changed realities, when you see the Left totally determined to get communisim to work somewhere in the world somehow, no matter how many millions or billions have died in the effort so far. This is one major reason why I have incredible problems taking Leftists at their word. They claim to be acting from some sort of place of human compasion when they are the most ugly and imcompassionate people in the world.

  27. capitalism without social responsibility is tantamount to coprorate fascism.

    You mean without the liberal’s bastardization of responsibility. In other words, if they don’t bend over and grab their ankles to support the liberal agenda, they’re the scourge of the earth. Besides, if they were fascist, you’d be totally in love with them.

    Which brings me to my conclusion that Bush can’t be a Nazi or a fascist based on the fact that the liberals hate his guts and would gladly destroy the country out of spite.

  28. BTW, does anybody really think there’s a coinky-dink that “Earth Day” is on Lenin’s birthday?

    “Many of you are well enough off that … the tax cuts may have helped you,” “We’re saying that for America to get back on track, we’re probably going to cut that short and not give it to you.

    “We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” -Hillary Clinton 28 July 2004

  34. #33 – Maybe there are some in the environmental movement who secretly hanker to poison vast areas of the U.S. with anthrax and plutonium and PCBs, but if there are, they’re keeping their agenda very well hidden indeed.

  35. Great post, Dan – good food for thought. The hard left has let criticism of America define it. I think the flip side, though, is that the hard right views any criticism at all as treason. Perhaps it’s just a sympton of our politics these days. I would imagine most of our fellow citizens are a bit more realistic. Certainly there are things we can do better, but when it comes down to it we’ve got about the best system of governance out there. No government is perfect, but I’ll take our form over others.

  36. What a timely Easter Post this is!
    It has the same general feel of a Bull Conner speech, the “agitator” aspect.
    1st: For a classic case of historical revisionism:
    “United States lost the Vietnam War by refusing even to provide aid and air support to the South.” Wrong, the gov of the south was a pack of incompetent corrupt losers it is a testament to our military strength that it lasted as long as it did.

    “That instead of seeing our flaws as a part of a generally good system, we let them define the system”
    Even the best system breaks down without maintenance. Think of those who criticize, even the harshest critic, as mechanics trying to make it run for another 100,000 miles.
    In some cases, you don’t like the “tone” or perhaps the “truth behind the tone” stings so you lash out at those who want change. For that is what conservatives do.
    Because dead-ender conservatives by definition do not like this change so I have sympathy for the unaccepting lot of you. But the culture will become stronger because of the people who have the courage to criticize.

  39. In some cases, you don’t like the “tone” or perhaps the “truth behind the tone” stings so you lash out at those who want change. For that is what conservatives do.

    BS There hasn’t been one single solitary shred of truth from the left in at least 6 years. As far as the tone, it’s the usual incessant moonbat shrieks. And who the hell wants to listen to lying, shrieking idiots?

  40. Vince, see anything said by Ann Coulter as an example. I did say the “hard right” for a reason, for that extreme is no more representative of mainstream conservatives than the “Blame America First” extreme is of mainstream liberals. Which was my point in the comment. Most of us don’t identify with the exteme elements, but those are the elements that are the most vocal and who get the most attention. I disagree with the BAF contingent of my side of the aisle even more than I disagree with my conservative friends.

  44. “Why do so many intellectuals and their allies on the left have so much hatred, so much contempt for the United States, their own nation? ”

    This is a figment of your imagination and a straw man. And the comments which have flowed from it, too, are all so imaginative.

  45. sean: explain this example:

    The Islamist-Leftist Convergence

    At Egypt’s Al-Ahram Weekly, an account of a meeting with Muslim Brotherhood, Hizballah, Hamas, and Western Marxist idiots; I’ve used that headline before, but this is a truly mind-boggling example of Total Moronic Convergence™: Anti-globalists reach out to Islamists.

    Ali Fayyad of Hizbullah backed up Mazraani, though he complained that, “many socialists in Europe still refuse to work with us, calling us ‘terrorist’”. He admitted that Islamists are conservative and often don’t want to work with the left, especially extremists like Al-Qaeda, which “will not work with anyone and will fail”. Then there are the liberal Muslims who don’t care about the war and occupation, lack a clear position on imperialism, and as a result, actually ally with it. “The differences of Hamas and Hizbullah with the left are minor — family and social priorities — and at the same time, the Islamic movement must apply democracy, which is really the same as shura. Democracy is a bridge to cross to a better world. We should avoid intolerance in governance, whether it’s Islamic or not, and forcing religion upon people.” He referred to Gramsci’s argument about creating a common front at important historical junctures to induce historical change, after which the different groups can go their separate ways. What a lovely irony to have an Islamist quoting a Western communist theorist.

    “By working with Islamic groups in an open way, the left can have a positive impact on Islamic movements, and vice versa.”

    The international left, as represented at the conference, emphasised practical ways to reach out to the broader Muslim community, as reflected in conference forums on such projects as twinning UK and Palestinian cities, countering the boycott of the Hamas government in Palestine with a boycott of Israel and Western firms that provide military equipment to Israel, countering Islamophobia — in a word, citizens’ diplomacy.

    James Clark of the Canadian Peace Alliance described how the anti-war coalitions are now supportive of Muslims who find themselves targets of racial and religious profiling and no-fly lists, and that there is active work in the peace movement to counter Islamophobia, “which the governments use to fan the flames to generate support for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They are committed to defend all civil liberties. ”On the wall of the prayer room at Ryerson University in Toronto, someone’s spray painted ‘Die Muslim’. The administration refused to condemn this as hate crime, so we organised a petition and a campaign to counter Islamophobia, and as a result, the head of the Islamic students’ organisation was elected president of the students’ council. So you can use such incidents to educate and mobilise people.“ Clark vowed that the Canadian peace movement, inspired by the Arab resistance in Lebanon and Iraq, would work with Muslims to defeat imperialism.

    Johannes Anderson of Denmark criticised the Danish left for not standing behind Muslims during the cartoon controversy, allowing a weak prime minister to emerge unscathed. ”I’ve changed through the past years and grown through criticism. We should not be afraid of it. We fight for democracy in the Middle East and Europe against neo-liberalism which is taking away our rights everywhere.”

    http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25063&only&rss

  46. and HERE.. what MORE proof do you suicidal fools need than the quote below. That your idiot party still pursues surrender in the full knoweldge of this ENRAGES me. If the President wasn’t such a puss , he should be arresting the leadership of the Dhimmitude Party pronto.

    This 2005 letter from Ayman al-Zawahiri’s letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi shows that indeed, our enemies have been taking notes:

    “Things may develop faster than we imagine. The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam-and how they ran and left their agents-is noteworthy. Because of that, we must be ready starting now, before events overtake us, and before we are surprised by the conspiracies of the Americans and the United Nations and their plans to fill the void behind them.”

  47. My, my ladies. What’s gotten such a bee in your bonnets?

    It wouldn’t happen to be the exposure of all the corruption, mismanagement, deceit, politicization etc. of the Republican party done in the name of “conservatism,” would it? That at every turn, the misguided agenda of the administration is now being examined and called out?

    But rather than face facts of the crumbling sand castles of abuse it’s much easier to hurl epithets at the opposing party/viewpoint as being un-American, isn’t it?

    Pathetic.

  48. Just A Question: How retarded are you? The only reason the traitor party won Congress is because the core base of the republican party WAS CALLING THE PARTY OUT.

    Duh. Did you miss that part? Or did you thikn the Democrats actually had an agenda that the public wanted?

  49. This is a figment of your imagination and a straw man.

    Uhmmmm….no it isn’t. It’s prominently displayed on a daily basis from the right and it would be hard to find any evidence otherwise. Worse is that your ilk won’t provide any.

    It wouldn’t happen to be the exposure of all the corruption, mismanagement, deceit, politicization etc.

    Meanwhile, the corruption, mismanagement, deceit, politicization of the liberals is lauded and protected. We see corrupt members of the liberals given seats on committees and trips to Syria. Meanwhile you can keep bribe money in the freezer, get promoted for it and nobody gives a crap.

    The Republicans passed a rule that if you’re indicted, you lose your job. Libs have no such rule and it appears that you can get elevated to higher positions instead.

    That at every turn, the misguided agenda of the administration is now being examined and called out?

    If you were the least bit honest, you would have said the liberal fantasy of the administration is now being examined etc.

    BTW, you said now being examined Now? Well what the hell have the liberals been doing the past six years? No doubt your answer will be something along the lines of “cowering in fear because they didn’t have the majority”.

    Last night, after dinner, I passed something bearing a similar resemblence to your comment. If only your drivel could be just as easily wiped and flushed.

  50. Another way to consider the relationship, or overlap, between self-criticism and self-hatred is by the various Communist (Stalinist, Trotskyist, or whatever sectarian) procedures of compelling members to undergo “self-criticism.”

    This typically involved an ego-punishing procedure of getting the subject to admit to any manner of incorrect thinking – anything, that is, that did not conform to the then-reigning party line. The show trials of the late 1930s were the height of this phenomenon in the Soviet Union. Mao’s Cultural Revolution may have been the bloodiest example of it anywhere. But as a means of destroying the free and critical ego it’s been a staple of radical leftwing thinking everywhere, including in the Western democracies.

    It may be that the extent to which today’s Democratic Party is infiltrated by radical activists and ideologies can be demonstrated by the extent to which self-criticism, for many liberals, is a function of this intellectual self-annihilation.

    (An example of unmasking such “self-hating self-criticism” can be found in in Richard Wright’s chapter in The God That Failed, where he realizes that that’s what’s being expected of him at a Communist Party meeting. It becomes the moment when he resolves to turn his back on it.)

  51. Vince, mea culpa. I did some googling this morning and came up empty-handed (as you expected probably! 😉 ).

    I would add that I still agree with the premise of the topic – that self-criticism has degenerated into self-hatred for the far left. And that’s unfortunate, because it prevents us from engaging in reasoned debate about the course for the country.

  53. As I said in the other thread below, in light of Nancy Lugosi’s oft-exclaimed quote that unethical politicians would no longer be promoted under her watch, then she should herself be recalled because of her violation of the Logan Act.

    Then again, with Dhimmicrats you can get away with lying under oath, extramarital sex, operating gay escort services, driving while intoxicated, negligent homicide, vehicular manslaughter, embracing foes of the USA…but don’t you dare question their patriotism! 😉

    Regards,
    Peter H.

  54. #0 – Dan –

    America is the most moral nation there has ever been – bar none. We did not begin science nor capitalism nor democracy, but no other nation has combined and developed them as we have – alleviating suffering and improving life as no nation ever has. That is moral. We taught the world that domestic tranquillity could be combined with democracy and individual rights. We have led the world to new heights in food production, sanitation, medicine, and gainful employment for the masses. It was our political and economic system (adopted partially by the British) that both demanded, and enabled, the systematic condemnation and abolishment of human slavery. We’ve also given the world an unprecedented flowering of musical forms and popular culture.

    I can easily see why other nations would be anti-American: So much of what they are and what they have (today) has come from America that, if they can’t look askance at America or put it down, they can hardly have any self-esteem or national pride. Moreover, America is a supremely safe target. Precisely because America is the most moral and genuinely conscience-driven nation ever, criticizing America will get your country goodies, far sooner than it will get you death.

    But you asked a more interesting question: Why do so many Americans themselves put down America? My theories:

    (1) Because even the poorest among us are fat, live better than any king in the Middle Ages, and have a significant degree of self-determination (whether we choose to admit it or not),we collectively focus on trivia. We are largely removed from survival concerns.

    9-11 changed that slightly, and for a little while. But President Bush’s great success in preventing another 9-11 has, ironically, made the change temporary and allowed most of us (except the military) to return to our 1990s lives of trivial concerns.

    (2) We want to keep it that way. We want to stay mired in trivia; isolated from survival concerns. Putting down America gives ordinary Americans a precious illusion of power and control over the world. The world has some really evil, scary people and threats. Pretending that it isn’t so, and that all problems stem from ourselves, is a psychological defense mechanism. It’s just like when a little kid tries to blame himself for his parents’ drug addiction, divorce, etc. Admitting the real threats- and his full powerlessness over them – would be unbearable.

    (3) As a variation of point (2): our academics and journalists want to believe that their criticisms of America matter. (When, of course, they don’t.) To reassure themselves of their own importance, they focus on their own criticisms of America obsessively.

    (4) Finally, we hate history. We focus obsessively on what’s new. As people ignorant of history, we are condemned to ignore its lessons.

    I also agree with the comments about the Vietnam protest era (whose denizens are now our leading authorities) being an era that consciously tried to turn all values upside down, so as to make virtues out of un-patriotism and physical cowardice.

  56. Calarato, interesting points as a reflection on what Dan offered, but I think he was more talking about why intellectuals (think of those Ivory Towers of Elitism on ivy-covered campuses) and their allies on the Left hate America… even though both Lowry and Dan write generally about the “West”. I’ve read and reread your comments and others here… but I’m still missing the link.

    Dan, I struggle to understand why “BlameAmericaFirst” seems like a widespread disease of the Left. I don’t doubt it is… but healthy self-criticism morphing into self-hatred doesn’t explain what it is that drives some in our culture to become so hateful of America… and that’s what I hear when many on the Left instruct us on what’s wrong with America.

  57. NDXXX, sort of like Joe4OilKennedy linking up with oil rich buddy Hugo Chavez to “give” poor Americans some relief from the ill effects of “global warming” in the midst of winter? BTW, that little stunt of JoeK’s netted most of the poor people who signed up for the program about 12 weeks of domestic heating oil at 65% of market rates.

    If some had engaged local options provided through many suppliers on the East Coast, folks at 115% poverty could have gotten the heating oil at 45-65% reduced price PLUS weatherization improvements to aid in making their homes (owned or rented) more energy efficient.

    I wonder how much Joe4OilKennedy made on the deal in “administrative fees”?

  58. Cal makes good points, as usual. I think much of what he has said about American exceptionalism has been true for much of our history. The normal state of humanity throughout history has been for the great mass of the people to exist in political servitude to a self-selected ruling elite. That is the form of political society in most of the countries of the world today.

    My fear is that American society is rapidly reverting to the norm. Already, we have in place a hereditary ruling class when senate and house seats are passed on from generation to generation to members of the lucky sperm club. Our political classes are a self-selected elite insulated from the effects of their policies on the electorate. It is easy for them to embrace amnesty because to them there are no differences among “peasants,” they all exist to be ruled over. It is also what makes it easy for them to accommodate the butchers of Beijing and break bread with leaders of terror-states like Syria. John Kerry and Al Gore don’t fly commercial, and will never have to worry about terrorists blowing up any of their private jets. George W. Bush doesn’t have to worry about his ranch being trashed by illegals because the Secret Service will keep them at bay.

    George Bush has more in common with Ted Kennedy and John Kerry than he does with any of us poor saps. Laws like McCain-Feingold virtually ensure the perpetuation of the self-selected, hereditary ruling class by making it financially impossible for a person of modest means or humble birth to challenge those in power.

  59. It also irks me when people, especially Eurotards do that, “We don’t hate America, we just hate your government” BS. Yes, they hate our government… because it isn’t sufficiently socialist yet.

  60. Matt, I don’t know how to make it clearer. I’ll try summarizing.

    Dan asked, “Why do so many intellectuals and their allies on the left have so much hatred, so much contempt for the United States, their own nation?”

    My theories were/are:

    (0) Because America is good, and a safe target for them.
    (1) Because we as a culture – led by our intellectuals – are removed from survival concerns / focused on trivia…
    (2) …and we/they WANT to be removed from survival concerns / focused on trivia. And denying the real threats out there – always blaming ourselves, as if we had great control over things – is a strategy to support that.
    (3) Because our intellectuals WANT to believe in their own self-perceived importance.
    (4) Because we as a culture – including (or led by) our intellectuals – characteristically ignore the past, including the lessons of history.
    (5) Because as someone else indicated, our current generation of intellectual leaders is heavily invested in an Orwellian up-is-down, black-is-white view of the world that made a virtue out of their Vietnam-era cowardice.

    I would like to take this opportunity to expand on point (0). It goes back to the Evan Sayet speech that people have cited. Left intellectuals inevitably “hate the good, for being the good” because their basic moral, emotional and intellectual goal is to erase all moral distinctions or questions of what people deserve, and that drives them to tear down the good. Sayet explains it.

    I would also like to take this opportunity to add 2 more reasons, (6) survivor’s guilt and (7) lust for power. We have, historically, been more prosperous than the rest of the world. I said why: our development of capitalism, democracy, science as a package. But Left intellectuals don’t get that, and don’t want to get it. All they see is this “unexplained” or “unfair” wealth – that magically drops from the sky, as it were – and that must be “redistributed” and/or punished. By them. Redistributionism satisfies their guilt and their power-lust together – 2 birds with one stone. And to justify redistributionism, they must attack America (or its practice of democracy-with-capitalism).

  61. So to summarize even more – American left-intellectuals hate America because:

    (a) for reasons explained, they have an inner compulsion to malign and slander the good,
    (b) the classic critics’ need to make themselves seem important through criticism,
    (c) as a means to other ends – for example, as a means to ‘blank out’ the real threats facing us; or as a means to justify redistributionism / socialism (which they desire for reasons explained).

  62. BTW – point (a) was brought home to me by a Simpsons re-run I saw last night. It’s the one where Principal Skinner is revealed to be a fraud named Armand Tamzarian, when “the real Seymour Skinner” comes back to town.

    The episode is cute and clever and I loved it when it came out. But the bottom line is this: The real Seymour Skinner is a war hero – a POW beyond John McCain. And he is depicted as an insufferable a**hole, with his corny, positive belief in America – and he is ultimately run out of town on a rail, with even Marge Simpson approving.

    Is _The Simpsons_ written by military-hating hippies? You decide.

  63. I try not to come up with spiritual or religious concepts to be the reasons for things I can’t explain.. but I believe the Anti-Americanism and the Anti-Semitism that is so common to the Left and other circles , fundamentally, is because these people hate the God of the Bible and so they hate any nation which purports to have faith in that God. Of course not every one is explained by that, but I think that explains the broad undercurrent of that ideology.

    After years of trying to figure these peolpe out , that seems to be the best fit.

  64. Vince, you remind me of a bit of scripture I came across this weekend. Mark 13:13: “And ye shall be hated of all men for my (Jesus’s) name’s sake…”

    So, basically, 2000 years ago, Christ prophesied the existence of Bill Maher.

  65. To sum up the zany viewpoint of the right:
    “We disagree with liberals”
    “In our opinion our views are the best for the country”
    “Therefore those who have different views must HATE AMERICA & want it destroyed; oh yeah liberals are racist, anti-semitic and stupid”

    You guys are going crazier and crazier; no wonder the majority of Americans are rejecting you…

  66. V: not only that.. but also in the Bible, Satan continiously, throughout history, tries to destroy the Jewish people.

    so that links Jews and Christians in a commonality of being opposed by the same force.

    The more insightful historians have noted that any broad movement toward anti-semitism was a foreshadowing of even greater evil and that any rise of hatred of Jews or Israel is a “canary in the coalmine” warning.

  68. “but also in the Bible, Satan continuously, throughout history, tries to destroy the Jewish people”
    Where in the Bible does it say that? – Old testament specifically?

    File this under “What the hell are you talking about?”:
    “hatred of Jews or Israel is a “canary in the coalmine” warning.
    and then this:
    “Throughout most of history, the Jews have been a righteous and decent people”
    Not true at all. Jews have committed evils the same as everyone else.

    Stop the madness!!!!!!

  69. Cal, thanks for the summary & expansion. I get why you think American intellectuals and their allies on the Left hate America.

    I think it also partly stems from the very use of criticism as THE tool for insight and understanding in higher ed settings/studies by intellectuals… it’s how they were trained to see the world, the exercise of power, the interplay of institutions, etc. At UofM, we were trained to look at institutions like the stock market and think, how can that model be tweaked to allow totalitarian SEAsian countries to embrace foreign investment? How pure does Free Trade need to get before labor and commodities truly do migrate irrespective of borders? How can one apply free market mechanisms to natl policies to get govt out of the business of providing housing for the poor? Glass half full or empty… it didn’t matter… use the model and don’t make unrealistic criticisms the enemy of the practical.

    But that’s just being a wolverine.

    You know, a major tenet of LeftWing fundamentalism hasn’t always been the negative “faith” in America the Ugly. I don’t think JFK was practicing that fundamentalism when he called on the younger generation to roll up their sleeves and do great things for our country and the world. But I think monopolizing the “rights” to the American Dream shifted from the libs to cons about the time of RR’s ascendancy. Maybe it’s shifting again –if the Dems make good on their promise to be on the lookout for the middle class.

    It’s clear now that hating America by the Left has replaced hoping for a better America (or working to secure a more just America). That’s a sad thing to opine.

  70. Have you ever notice how, sometimes, adults are having an intelligent conversation, and little kids… like, 3 or 4 years old… get all impatient and frustrated because no one’s paying attention to them, and they just can’t participate at an adult level, so they just start screaming out whatever dumb ideas come to their teeny minds?

    Have you ever noticed that?

  71. Things to remember when posting:
    Before you press “Say It” ask yourself: “Is this thought pure insanity?”
    If it is, consider not pressing “Say it” as someone, in this case myself, may call you on it.

    This is a universal rule that all sides of the political spectrum, possibly including myself, would benefit from following

  72. 69: lack of wisdom on your part is not insanity on my part. About the earlier comment you made that the right thinks the left are enemies of the country.

    No I dont think we think that in general. We think that in those instances where Leftists give thier support to evil regimes in the world or when they attack the US for defending itself because that is being for the enemy. So when that happens, then, yes, those people involved are enemies.

    And no one said that Jews dont do evil. So that’s non sequiter made out of your desperation to avoid thinking.

  73. keogh : You should play the “hmmm i wonder if he might be right, maybe i should ask him what his reasoning is so that I can evaluate his premise from my head instead of my ass” game.

  74. V K: I swear i made a similiar comment either on this blog or another (I’m checking).. I have a hard time relating to adults who act like babies and sadly there are more and more all hte time

  75. #71… Sorry VdaK, I’ll keep my opinions to myself in the future. Hey, I have a 3yr old… I know there’s a world of difference between his opinion and mine… and we’re teaching him to say “Excuse me” before blurting out anything if adults are talking. I’ve never been acccused of having a teeny mind –but if I do, the Maize&Blue ego pushed it into a teeny corner. I’ll try to do better at expressing my thoughts.

  76. keogh writes: “You guys are going crazier and crazier; no wonder the majority of Americans are rejecting you… ”

    As Calarato often advises: BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT. Wrong.

    The voters’ approval rating of Congress is nearly tied with the low ratings provided Geo W Bush; in fact, it’s the lowest in 14 years! In fact, the AP poll has it at 64% DISapprove… that’s DISapprove of the Democrats in Congress, keogh. The voters doNOT support your position, your party, your party’s leadership of Congress… and that’s pretty bad considering the GOPers had Foley, prok barrels unlimited, DeLay, Cunningham, etc etc etc.

    It took your side about 3 months to get lower. Ouch.

    And to think that all the Democrat leaders of Congress oppose the corrupt, evil exercise of militarism and political hegemony by the BushCo forces on the poor ol’ Iraqi people. Yeah, people are turning away… from Congressional leadership by the Democrats.

    Try this on for “size” keogh:

    http://www.pollingreport.com/CongJob.htm

    You can’t even write “but they DISapproved of you more”. Right, we’re going crazier and crazier. LOL