I’ve always believed that much of the “moral authority” from the left is related to notions of kindness rather than virtues of goodness (see my previous post.) Part of this kindness has to do with the notion of continuously referring to the past guilt of the white race and the constant need for white repentance. Either John McWhorter or Shelby Steele refer to this as “white redemptive guilt” I believe. And Shelby Steele has a great editorial today in the Wall St. Journal which relates this guilt to our efforts overseas, our foreign policies, and generally to the way that Western Europe deals with the Third World.
Anti-Americanism, whether in Europe or on the American left, works by the mechanism of white guilt. It stigmatizes America with all the imperialistic and racist ugliness of the white Western past so that America becomes a kind of straw man, a construct of Western sin. (The Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons were the focus of such stigmatization campaigns.) Once the stigma is in place, one need only be anti-American in order to be “good,” in order to have an automatic moral legitimacy and power in relation to America. (People as seemingly disparate as President Jacques Chirac and the Rev. Al Sharpton are devoted pursuers of the moral high ground to be had in anti-Americanism.) This formula is the most dependable source of power for today’s international left. Virtue and power by mere anti-Americanism. And it is all the more appealing since, unlike real virtues, it requires no sacrifice or effort–only outrage at every slight echo of the imperialist past.
I think that the root of the left in this country and in the world generally depends upon sustaining such guilt in whites (and men). I think that such guilt has left society in many instances powerless to improve the lots of the less fortunate. It is such guilt that sustains the notion that blacks require special admission status to universities (under the guise of “diversity”) even when these kids come from middle and upper income homes. They may receive special consideration not given to white kids of lesser socio-economic status. In fact, granting such concessions seems to me to be a form of racial bigotry. It is so because it implies that these middle and upper income black students need the concessions to succeed. It says that they are in fact inferior to those white kids of lesser social status and depend upon the continued patronage of whites to advance in society. And too it is guilt that sustains the feminist movement of the left. This time the legacy of patriarchy. This legacy is the reason that “Women’s Centers,” women’s studies, women’s programs have been institutionalized in most universities despite the fact that woman outnumber men on campuses by large numbers. Men, particularly white men, are the symbol of evil in the world today in the eyes of radical feminists. And they manipulate guilt to reform society in their image.
And I think that Shelby Steele is correct in stating that perpetuating the white guilt thing is satisfying to the left because it is easy and makes them feel good. Remember that to the left, it is better to feel good than to truly be good.
