Surprising what listening may lead to. How much more enlightened than knee-jerking oneself into self-righteous apoplexy.
I discovered Melanie Phillips when I lived in the UK about 10 years ago. She reminded me of Margaret Thatcher, except she was a journalist. She was fearless in attack, and precise in her criticism. She had a moral compass, principles and a love for the good guys with zero sentimentality for the bad guys.
I never knew she was a “changer”, but we all are at some point I guess. These days, Leftism is so jammed down children’s throats that our so called education and pop culture practically constitutes child abuse by itself, that nearly everyone has to come out of Babylon or else they just stay where they found themselves.
A journalist of classical liberal values, crying out in the wilderness.
Thanks for the link, neo. Melanie is one brave lady.
I was struck by this: “But I always wrote with ordinary people in mind.”
This was pretty much how the mainstream media covered news up until about the Vietnam War, wasn’t it? And then began the change-over to writing to themselves and to other elements of the elite began, until now that’s just about all there is.
Thanks a million for posting this, Landlady. I have had the pleasure of sending her brilliant,”The World Turned Upside Down” and David Mamet’s memoir of his move to Neoconservatism,”The Secret Knowledge” to more Liberal friends than any others–EVER.
Reading this piece makes me love her even more.
“The result is that there are two Britains – the first adhering to decency, rationality and duty to others, and the second characterised by hatred, rampant selfishness and a terrifying repudiation of reason.”
That sounds like the US now.
@Rachelle. Yep.
“But I always wrote with ordinary people in mind.”
Ernie Pyle comes to mind.
“Those of us who worked there had a fixed belief in our own superiority and righteousness”
The lefist philosophy in a nutshell!
“The result is that there are two Britains – the first adhering to decency, rationality and duty to others, and the second characterised by hatred, rampant selfishness and a terrifying repudiation of reason.”
Viktor Frankl said there were two races of people, the decent and the indecent.
The Left, on every issue one can think of, is on the wrong side of things. They are exactly as Phillips describes. They must “above all see themselves as virtuous and compassionate”…but they are not. They are, in fact, the exact opposite – vicious and uncaring.
There is no reason I can think of why we should ever confront the Left and say otherwise. We should only tell them simply and plainly: You are not virtuous, you are vicious. You are not compassionate, you are uncaring…and here is why…
One thing we should never do is agree to accept the lie (which 100% of the time is trotted out when the Liberal is defeated in argument by facts) that “both sides do it”. No, both sides do not do it. One side really does promote virtue, and the other really does promote vice. One never fails to promote virtue, and one never fails to extol vice.
I suppose what we really need are definitions of virtue and compassion. Aristotle is a good place to start. The New Testament another. There courage is the mean between the extremes of cowardice and foolhardiness. There, the Father is almost central figure number one.
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Surprising what listening may lead to. How much more enlightened than knee-jerking oneself into self-righteous apoplexy.
I discovered Melanie Phillips when I lived in the UK about 10 years ago. She reminded me of Margaret Thatcher, except she was a journalist. She was fearless in attack, and precise in her criticism. She had a moral compass, principles and a love for the good guys with zero sentimentality for the bad guys.
I never knew she was a “changer”, but we all are at some point I guess. These days, Leftism is so jammed down children’s throats that our so called education and pop culture practically constitutes child abuse by itself, that nearly everyone has to come out of Babylon or else they just stay where they found themselves.
A journalist of classical liberal values, crying out in the wilderness.
Thanks for the link, neo. Melanie is one brave lady.
I was struck by this: “But I always wrote with ordinary people in mind.”
This was pretty much how the mainstream media covered news up until about the Vietnam War, wasn’t it? And then began the change-over to writing to themselves and to other elements of the elite began, until now that’s just about all there is.
Thanks a million for posting this, Landlady. I have had the pleasure of sending her brilliant,”The World Turned Upside Down” and David Mamet’s memoir of his move to Neoconservatism,”The Secret Knowledge” to more Liberal friends than any others–EVER.
Reading this piece makes me love her even more.
“The result is that there are two Britains – the first adhering to decency, rationality and duty to others, and the second characterised by hatred, rampant selfishness and a terrifying repudiation of reason.”
That sounds like the US now.
@Rachelle. Yep.
“But I always wrote with ordinary people in mind.”
Ernie Pyle comes to mind.
“Those of us who worked there had a fixed belief in our own superiority and righteousness”
The lefist philosophy in a nutshell!
“The result is that there are two Britains – the first adhering to decency, rationality and duty to others, and the second characterised by hatred, rampant selfishness and a terrifying repudiation of reason.”
Viktor Frankl said there were two races of people, the decent and the indecent.
The Left, on every issue one can think of, is on the wrong side of things. They are exactly as Phillips describes. They must “above all see themselves as virtuous and compassionate”…but they are not. They are, in fact, the exact opposite – vicious and uncaring.
There is no reason I can think of why we should ever confront the Left and say otherwise. We should only tell them simply and plainly: You are not virtuous, you are vicious. You are not compassionate, you are uncaring…and here is why…
One thing we should never do is agree to accept the lie (which 100% of the time is trotted out when the Liberal is defeated in argument by facts) that “both sides do it”. No, both sides do not do it. One side really does promote virtue, and the other really does promote vice. One never fails to promote virtue, and one never fails to extol vice.
I suppose what we really need are definitions of virtue and compassion. Aristotle is a good place to start. The New Testament another. There courage is the mean between the extremes of cowardice and foolhardiness. There, the Father is almost central figure number one.