Saturday, April 29, 2017

Freedom and Virtue

Good article from First Things.  Beyond believing the snippet below succinctly captures the results of the Talk-radio-ification of the Conservative movement, I also found the article convicting.  Not because I have any, uh, "tastes" similar to the Drupal guy who was fired, but because it exposes my tendency to value personal liberty over the virtuous or good.  This usually takes the form of my saying/posting/IMing something I find hilarious, though base or crass, or saying something not because I truly feel/believe a particular thing but because my speech represents a sort of rebellion or exercise-of-freedom-for-freedom's-sake.   "Ha! I'm going to say this just because I know it's politically incorrect!". 

Anyway - here's the snippet I mentioned and a link to the article.

"If third-wave feminists and social media leftists announce the sky is blue, then we know it must be green. This kind of pathetic pseudo-solidarity amongst some conservatives is precisely why the movement finds itself ruthlessly hijacked by blowhards and hucksters, some of whom are valorized on the right even as they reject principles like the personhood of the unborn. Why? Because they’re good at ridiculing the enemy. This is not conservatism; it’s right-wing identity politics."

https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2017/04/kink-is-not-conscience

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