Despair: The Supreme Theme of Progressive Politics and Art

The brilliant and insightful John C. Wright sums up the progressive worldview:

Despair can be seen in the art and literature of these modern heathens, which is why it is so ugly and ungainly: why they prefer Mervyn Peake to JRR Tolkien. You understand that a man in true despair does not long for the hope he has lost, he resents hope as a falsehood, a will o’ the wisp, and misleading or childish or unscientific. Their art and literature is based, not on an indifference to beauty, but a hatred of it. I mention the rise of movies whose only allure is to see the characters slowly and painfully tortured both physically and psychologically merely as an aside and an example. This is their world view.

One escape from the grip of despair is to cling to some pretty vision, some image in the clouds, and to pretend it is real so fiercely that one can deny the pain and emptiness that otherwise overwhelm. Ironically, this is the Leftist criticism of Christianity. They, who believe that the fairy unicorns of Gaea-friendly Green socialized welfare must save us from the bad goblins of global warming who otherwise will drown the planet next month, and accuse us, who believe in the Rights of Man as well as the Fall of Man, of being illogical and unrealistic.-- Read all @ The Unreality Principle | John C. Wright's Journal

Posted by Vanderleun at June 30, 2011 12:18 PM