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| The Left's moral-equivalent-of-war-mongering |
| 2008-04-25 |
| Jonah Goldberg Part of a longer article on the environmental movement. Rather than wade into the science and economics of global warming yet again, let us instead dissipate the hot air of the liberal obsession with the moral equivalent of war. In brief: There is no such thing as the moral equivalent of war. Whatever war is, it is war. The good that comes from war is unique to war. The evil that comes from war is unique to war, too. Even natural disasters that require citizens to drop what they are doing to help those in need cannot truly be compared to war because natural disasters are never evil in intent. (If they were, we would call tornados “acts of Satan,” not “acts of God.”) Ever since philosopher William James coined the phrase “moral equivalent of war,” self-described progressives have sought to galvanize the masses for collective purposes. They have loved the idea of war-without-war precisely because they want a public that follows in lockstep and individuals who will sacrifice their personal ambitions for the “greater good.” This is what John Dewey, James’s disciple, called the “social benefits of war.” Dewey, later a famous pacifist, supported WWI because he believed it would usher in an age of collectivism and crush laissez-faire capitalism. The yearning for a moral equivalent of war is an understandable desire, perhaps even noble in its intent. But it is not democratic. It is fundamentally authoritarian, which might explain why so many environmentalists envy China’s ability to ban plastic bags without reference to a vote or a court or anything other than the will of the China’s technocratic rulers. Indeed, the authors of “The Climate Change Challenge and the Failure of Democracy” openly question whether the crisis of climate change should render liberal democracy obsolete. For some it seems the moral equivalent of war requires the moral equivalent of a police state. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #13 I think he may mean morally constipated, Frank. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2008-04-25 19:02 |
| #12 Since most of the left are moral conservatives ??? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-04-25 18:34 |
| #11 Since most of the left are moral conservatives, can they have moral equivalents to anything? The left tends to think in terms of surrender, appeasement, and losing with regards to war it is tough to think of moral equivalents to war w/regards to the left. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-04-25 18:04 |
| #10 KOMO... From the station name I infer that must be in some socialist paradise, right? Seattle? |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2008-04-25 17:59 |
| #9 Last Sunday, during the run-up to the Mariners ball game the radio station KOMO had an interview with a guy that said we had gone past the point of reason with this environmental crap; it was costing people their jobs and serious dollars. He spoke rationally for a couple of minutes but then the she-host couldn't cut to commercial fast enough. For the record, and if there are any KOMO-weasels out there, I only listen to your crappy station no more than 162 days a year. |
| Posted by: USN,Ret. 2008-04-25 15:04 |
| #8 "Peace is the ideal we infer from the fact that there have been occasional lulls between wars." |
| Posted by: mojo 2008-04-25 14:12 |
| #7 My local library and at least 1 supermarket, encourages re-use of plastic bags by providing containers where these can be taken up for re-use. I am a pathological blue-boxer. |
| Posted by: Marilyn Omerese3326 2008-04-25 14:02 |
| #6 It is fundamentally authoritarian, which might explain why so many environmentalists envy ChinaÂ’s ability to ban plastic bags without reference to a vote or a court or anything other than the will of the ChinaÂ’s technocratic rulers. Which also explains why it isn't that big a step from the environmental bandwagon to the environmental cattle-car. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2008-04-25 13:54 |
| #5 What's war the moral equivalent of? Peace at any price, perhaps. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-04-25 13:13 |
| #4 What's war the moral equivalent of? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-04-25 12:22 |
| #3 There is no such thing as the moral equivalent of war Having Biochemistry lecture at 8 am was the moral equivalent of war. But maybe that was just me. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-04-25 11:19 |
| #2 Environmentalism is the communist wolf in sheep's clothing. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-04-25 10:27 |
| #1 thats a good takeaway: Environmentalism is fundamentally authoritarian. Environmentalists want to decree changes without reference to a vote or a court or anything other than the will of their chosen technocratic elite. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-04-25 10:01 |