Good article. Worth clicking over for the whole thing.
Rabbi Dov Fischer:
“…Among conservatives, there certainly are some obsessed with self-pity, too, but many more conservatives ultimately are motivated at their philosophical core by the ethic of positivism and hard work and responsibility to others. When most conservatives face severe difficulties, they may grumble and grouse, but they rapidly respond by understanding that they have to figure it out on their own or with their close family and friends. They may have to work longer hours or take on a second job. They may have to downsize and skimp. They know the concept of delayed gratification. Certainly, not all conservatives are this way, but this is the dominant philosophy and practice among conservatives. And many conservatives place great trust in G-d. “G-d helps those who help themselves.” By believing deeply in a loving G-d who assists the self-helper, a person often is strengthened to know that there is a greater “end game” in some setbacks and suffering, and G-d’s greater purpose will become evident in time.
By contrast, the contemporary Left Weltanschauung is rooted much more in self-pity and in the expectation that “Others” — usually, the Government (i.e., the taxpayers) — have a duty to step in and make it all better. “Others have a duty to provide a ‘Trigger Warning’ before subjecting me to something discomforting. Others have a duty to provide my medical care and to pay for it, to provide my housing, to guarantee me a good bank balance.” In that environment, when one applies for Government assistance — welfare, food stamps, free this, free that — one learns that the only way to get it is by complaining, crying, and telling a tale of woe. If you apply for it and then tell the interviewer that you are richer than Bezos, healthier than Mr. Universe, smarter than Einstein, faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive — you won’t get it. You have to complain. When you face a tough final exam in college, with fear that you will not do well — or, worse, when you get back a disastrously low grade — you have to start crying. It is the only chance to change the grade. And with enough liberal college professors responding to the crying and the disadvantage, it sometimes works.
This is what we are beholding in certain pockets of today’s American society: the synergy of wallowing in self-pity with the need to document evidence of conservative hate that does not exist…”
U.K. Royal Marines with X-Ray Company, Fire Support Group, 45 Commando conduct a security patrol with Jackals or Mobility Weapon-Mounted Installation Kits (MWMIK) during Integrated Training Exercise (ITX) 2-19 at Galloway lake training area on Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center (MCAGCC), Twentynine Palms, Calif., Jan. 18, 2019.