On Medium: Conservatives Must Think People are Just Animals
Read on about the anti-humanism behind Britannica’s diplomatic outline of “conservatism,” which shows how liberals tolerate conservatism by masking its anachronistic implications.
The conservatives remind me of the Amish: they want to return to a very specific -- and very arbitrary -- period in America's history (the post-war era). But unlike the Amish, they refuse to make the concession which such a project would entail (new deal economic policies and social programs, to name a few).
However, I'm afraid the conservative might be more right than wrong about human nature. I am and always will be a humanist, a feminist, an egalitarian, a free speech absolutist. But I've found that, as I get older and better informed of the ways of the world, I can only, in good conscience, champion to these ideals with irony.
I agree that, given the scientific picture of nature, pessimism about our ultimate chances is hardly crazy. My version of secular humanism takes us to be tragically heroic at best. But there's a difference between pessimism/realism and fatalism, and there's also a difference between saying that progress is impossible and that it's unlikely, tenuous, or futile.
The conservatives remind me of the Amish: they want to return to a very specific -- and very arbitrary -- period in America's history (the post-war era). But unlike the Amish, they refuse to make the concession which such a project would entail (new deal economic policies and social programs, to name a few).
ReplyDeleteHowever, I'm afraid the conservative might be more right than wrong about human nature. I am and always will be a humanist, a feminist, an egalitarian, a free speech absolutist. But I've found that, as I get older and better informed of the ways of the world, I can only, in good conscience, champion to these ideals with irony.
I agree that, given the scientific picture of nature, pessimism about our ultimate chances is hardly crazy. My version of secular humanism takes us to be tragically heroic at best. But there's a difference between pessimism/realism and fatalism, and there's also a difference between saying that progress is impossible and that it's unlikely, tenuous, or futile.
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