How We're Put Together

This is a commentary from two years ago, but it's at least as timely now as ever. Towards a Society of Generosity There is an epidemic of rage and suspicion abroad in our land: Mass shootings, reckless driving, people demanding the right to be armed wherever they go, the vicious rhetoric of hate and insult directed against immigrants, the poor,   people of color, and women in the comment sections of every website and from the mouths of people running for President and some of their supporters. Consciously, all this anger has various targets and excuses, from the supposedly lazy poor, immigrants who want a free ride on our system, to women and minorities who want special privileges.   It’s true, as many on the left have pointed out, that these angry people are mostly white working class males frightened at the loss of their privileged position in society, privileges that depend on there being others who are under privileged. That is why they are angry at marginalized ...

A great deal of the opposition to Trump and Trump supporters is couched in the register of moral outrage. Some of it is ridicule: making fun of Trump’s appearance and his obliviousness to demonstrable facts, as well as the ignorance of some of his supporters. We lament the danger he and his supporters pose to democracy and peace, and the hatefulness of what they say and do about women, people of color, and the poor. One might almost suppose that the Left these days is united primarily around hatred for Trump and people who support him, even though we say that love trumps hate. Trumpists find solidarity in their disgust for the Left, whom they call “libtards” and “snowflakes”, but it would be nice if the Left was united by something better than hatred or even moral outrage. There’s no denying that shared moral outrage feels good; it is a way of declaring oneself to be on the right (that is, the Left) side of history and in solidarity with like-minded others. But it only drives the ...