1.11.2006
Guilt
I don't even remember what it was, but I recently was accused of doing something solely to assuage my liberal guilt. Which got me thinking, is feeling guilty really a bad thing? I guess the whole idea of liberal guilt is that some people know that there are all kinds of injustices and outrages in the world, and they feel so powerless to change the whole constellation of iniquity that they may take a few piecemeal actions but won't do anything to alter their whole lifestyle. And they feel guilty about it, and that's a pointless thing to feel.
But what is the alternative? Not feeling guilty? I guess some people think they deserve to buy cheaply made goods from sweatshops, and burn limitless oil that pollutes the air, and benefit from trade barriers that protect the local way of life while keeping poor people around the world on their knees. But do those people take substantive action more than guilty-feeling people do?
Obviously, feeling guilty and doing nothing is a worthless exercise. It's self-indulgent. But if feeling guilty means you recycle, and give to charity, and take the subway to work, and read about Darfur when it shows up on the Op-Ed page, and maybe write a letter to Congress, isn't that something? Even if a personal decision to walk to the mailbox instead of driving doesn't change the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere a single iota, it is still ethically a good decision. We are all guilty, and we have to act like we know it.
It's not enough, but it's something.
But what is the alternative? Not feeling guilty? I guess some people think they deserve to buy cheaply made goods from sweatshops, and burn limitless oil that pollutes the air, and benefit from trade barriers that protect the local way of life while keeping poor people around the world on their knees. But do those people take substantive action more than guilty-feeling people do?
Obviously, feeling guilty and doing nothing is a worthless exercise. It's self-indulgent. But if feeling guilty means you recycle, and give to charity, and take the subway to work, and read about Darfur when it shows up on the Op-Ed page, and maybe write a letter to Congress, isn't that something? Even if a personal decision to walk to the mailbox instead of driving doesn't change the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere a single iota, it is still ethically a good decision. We are all guilty, and we have to act like we know it.
It's not enough, but it's something.
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First of all, I hope it isn't guilt that drives action in the gay community. I hope it's rage, since it still isn't ok to be gay in a lot of places. (and I'm not talking about "the South". I'm talking about neighborhoods in cities, churches worldwide, entire countries, American subcultures)
Second of all, I'm sorry that I don't read you blog more often, and that this is my first comment.
But I was having a very similar conversation, wherein I was telling a friend about gentrification and how it neglects impoverished minorities, and he was basically just like, "Well, that's the price of progress." And I was kind of like, "Well, don't you have a soul?" He thinks that economic growth in an area is far more important. (Me:"What about creating low-income housing in the area to give some of the people you're kicking out a place to live in much better conditions than they were previously accustomed, in a nicer area with better facilities?" Him:"But what if something goes wrong in a situation like that?" Me:"LIKE WHAT?")
The moral of the story is that no matter where you go, there will be people with conservative viewpoints who think that what you're doing is stupid and pointless. Some of these people are sell-outs, and some of them actually believe what they say.
And good for you. Stick to what's right.
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Second of all, I'm sorry that I don't read you blog more often, and that this is my first comment.
But I was having a very similar conversation, wherein I was telling a friend about gentrification and how it neglects impoverished minorities, and he was basically just like, "Well, that's the price of progress." And I was kind of like, "Well, don't you have a soul?" He thinks that economic growth in an area is far more important. (Me:"What about creating low-income housing in the area to give some of the people you're kicking out a place to live in much better conditions than they were previously accustomed, in a nicer area with better facilities?" Him:"But what if something goes wrong in a situation like that?" Me:"LIKE WHAT?")
The moral of the story is that no matter where you go, there will be people with conservative viewpoints who think that what you're doing is stupid and pointless. Some of these people are sell-outs, and some of them actually believe what they say.
And good for you. Stick to what's right.
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