The Englishman draws my attention to some pure comedy gold over at CiF. Okay, Theo Hobson is a believer and I guess we are not supposed to mock the afflicted, not least when they inadvertently produce a self-parody so rich as this, but it’s just too delicious to abstain. Pompous, self-indulgent gems such as this one:
To “suffer” from liberal guilt means that you are somewhat uneasy about all sorts of awkward things that it is tempting to harden your heart against, like global injustice, global warming, racism. It means that you are troubled by the stubborn persistence of our class system, though you personally have done fine by it. It means you sometimes worry that you might be prejudiced against all sorts of people. It means that your vague patriotism is laced with uncertainty about whether our ancient constitution is able to be truly inclusive. It means, for goodness sake, that you fail to be completely fatly smugly relaxed about this problematic world we inhabit. Is that really so shameful and wet, so laughably mentally effeminate?
Pseuds corner here we come. I am able to manage my life without hand-wringing over any of these things. Not least, I can’t do anything about all that’s wrong with the world and I am not a believer in the great god of global warming. I am not in the least concerned that I may be prejudiced against people. I may be, I may not be, I try to treat them as I find them, I don’t waste time worrying about it. This, apparently, makes me smugly relaxed – as opposed, of course to having my life to deal with and that is taking all of my energies, so I have no time to indulge in “liberal guilt”. Just getting the next job in is as much as I can concentrate my energies on at the moment. I don’t have the luxury that Theo does to enjoy the vapours over global injustice. That will just have to wait. Still, all of this – working for a living and working at getting the next contract – that’s just being a smug Tory apparently.
If this little parade of privileged anxiety fills you with derision, then you are a Tory.
Like the smug, self-satisfied, preachy, sanctimonious, pompous, self-righteous Guardianista that he is, if you are not one of them, you are a Tory. Never mind that I have never joined the Conservative party and only ever once in my adult life put an X next to a Conservative candidate; I’m not one of them, so in Theo’s simplistic, two-dimensional world, I’m a Tory. Although, frankly, better a Tory than a Guardianista if I had to make the choice.
Rejection of liberal guilt is the very cornerstone of the Tory soul, the unofficial definition of Tory. “Look how relaxed I am about my place at the feast,” says the Tory. “Regard my sense of entitlement. Inequality and privilege are nothing to be ashamed of; they are part of life, and life is good, n’est-ce pas? So please: no more strident student-union hectoring stuff about how evil the ‘system’ is.” In other words, Toryism is a posture of world affirmation. It works by rubbishing reformist angst, painting it as neurotic hypocrisy. The phrase liberal guilt is obviously a Tory coinage. It ought to be called “the necessary self-accusing anxiety accompanying liberal idealism”. Or something.
Or something, indeed. There’s a word for this sanctimonious, idiotic cockwaffle and I think the title to this post says it all; risible. But then, I expect that from the saintly Guardianista.
Go and read it all if you have the stomach for it. Probably best to do it before breakfast rather than after. I expect the comments to be a hoot.
Of course this chap feels so guilty about having a higher income than most that he gives all his money away, leaving himself and family equal to inhabitants of a Bombay slum. How saintly.
And he’s kind enough to do this thing for its own sake- he wouldn’t dream of taking any credit for just paying what he believes he owes.
Typical manichean B.S. “You’re either a Schlegel or a Wilcox.” As usual, a left-winger calling himself ‘liberal’. As usual, a left-winger incapable of dealing with more than two options.
I enjoyed it in a perverse way. Theo is so dense he is incapable of noticing that in his rush to demonise and caricature the opposition, he does exactly the same thing to himself.
Petards hoist all round, what?
I suppose we are spared the usual lazy “right-wing” tag to go with the Tory insult.
It reminded me of something I saw over at Bela’s blog. She quoted some lefty as saying that that they were superior because they “identified with the poor”. I’ve thought about it a lot and have come to the same conclusion as this lefty nonsense you quote – unintelligible bollocks.
A friend of mine with a self deprecating sense of humour and a recognition of his tendency to agonise over trivialities once described himself as “the kind of person who feels guilty riding a bike with the wind behind him “. I doubt if Hobson has that degree of self awareness but he obviously makes up for it with self regard.