The Profit in Hatred

The screaming, shrieking hatred of their own open society is a career path for western Leftists in academia and politics:

Hating the West, Inc.

Victor Davis Hanson
Western elites and Third World critics both enjoy Western largesse.

"Paradoxes arise in attacking the West in general and the so-called European diaspora in particular. First, there is the obvious question: “Compared to what?” There are plenty of alternative cultures unstained by past Western imperialism and colonialism. Are their legacies more congenial to the present politically correct progressive agendas?

Do Islamic republics — Iran, for example — have a more reputable record of protecting gays or urban young women than does Europe or the United States? Is the venerable tradition of China more tolerant of religious and racial minorities? Would Michael Moore be permitted to be an edgier propagandist in Beijing? Are there safe spaces in Cuba or trigger warnings in Nicaragua?

In truth, the entire idea of self-criticism and self-reflection is mostly a Western aberration, not found elsewhere in the contemporary or indeed the ancient non-Western world. So critics of the West must resort to disparaging dead Westerners of a less liberal era even though there are plenty of present-day racist, homophobic, nativist, misogynist, and xenophobic cultures that would offer far easier targets for their wrath. Why pick on the fairly liberal Western societies of the past and ignore the thoroughly illiberal societies of the present?

Second, why did a million Africans and Middle Easterners freely seek out Europe last year, and why do hundreds of thousands of Mexicans and Central Americans crowd the southwestern American border? Japan is as affluent as Europe, and so is Singapore. Perhaps oil-rich Kuwait or Saudi Arabia might be preferable destinations? Why does immigration flow largely to the West? Its affluence is no longer a monopoly. But rather than affluence alone, is it respect for the individual, tolerance of dissent, and freedom of expression and religion that draw a Libyan or Pakistani toward London or Paris rather than Beijing or Mumbai? Immigration is the most concrete of all polls, in which millions vote not over their cell phones but with their feet.

Third, why do the fiercest critics of the Western and European tradition rush, like moths to a flame, to seek it out? Why do even radical Muslims migrate to largely Christian countries, while Christians do not relocate to Islamic societies? Collate what is taught in ethnic-studies classes with concurrent advocacy for illegal immigration, and the result is inevitably nonsense: By identity-politics logic, why would anyone advocate that indigenous peoples should live in a country with supposedly a long record of unfairness to indigenous peoples?

Should not immigration more logically flow in the opposite direction, as millions of those sickened by the Western pathologies seek superior models of racial and ethnic tolerance to the south, where there should be more economic opportunity for the Other? Should not ethnic-studies activists station themselves on the border, urging newcomers to turn around and avoid the racism, sexism, and classism endemic in El Norte? Should not a Chicano Studies professor urge deportation to spare illegal aliens the American ordeal that is the stuff of university seminars?

How bizarre to see the critics of capitalism line up for the newest iPhone or the most recent Air Jordan sneaker! Why would hard-left professors in California jet to Europe when they could drive to Oaxaca? Or drive Volvos when Civics are far cheaper and as reliable? Both the elites and the masses — cf. Facebook, video games, and fast food — seem to worship at the altar of capitalist excess. Ponder the progressive Obamas, whose vacations are regal in Louis XIV style; they enjoy, to the hilt, downright mean luxury — and yet seem never more proud of themselves than in the course of such indulgences. Is the logical trajectory of disdain for high-horse Christianity and typical-white-person investment really two weeks on Martha’s Vineyard?"
[Emphasis added]

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