Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Back to Megan

If you haven't already, take a spin over to S,N!. Someone, whooooooo could it possibly be?, gave them access to Jonah Goldberg's new book. It is a very excellent book indeed, with notes and an index and everything. I am enjoying reading it the excerpts S,N! is posting.
Anyways, Megan, Megan, Megan. Oy, Megan.
Today, she wrote this;
Drug companies make lifesaving drugs that people need, which of course tends to breed resentment when they charge what the market will bear, but also gives them a rather powerful weapon to deploy in the PR war.
People need them, which is why some of those poor sick folk will be priced out of affording them. This is a net plus for drug companies, and proof our medical system works.
...
Oh, and there's this
I mean, these tactics are fine by me; I don't want national healthcare. But is Paul Krugman interested in making policy, or just making an expressive statement about his youthful ideals?
An "expressive statement"? Megan champions vouchers while admitting they're untested and quite possibly a flawed idea (admitting in the pretending to acknowledge sense, of course), but Krugman suggesting a politician could use force of will to effect an incredibly needed change is naive? Pity poor Krugman, after next month all he's got is a tenured position at Princeton and a spot on the NYTimes editorial page.
In any case, Megan is a pretend lefty but actual Hayekian libertarian. She'd never admit it in public, but she's against humane treatment of humans, unless they're involved in caring for the animals she'll eventually eat. Can't have Bessie the cow picking up depressing waves from her handler, now can we? But, because she can't admit she's in favor of cannibalizing the poor for profit, she has to put on a bullshit face of concern for those not afforded the privileges she's had in life. This is exactly what the patronizing Upper West Side lefties Megan has spent her whole life being a reactionary negation of do. They pretend to care so as to avoid the guilt they very much should feel. As a member of a well-off tribe myself, I can tell you that either you go through a very depressing period where you feel guilty for existing, or you make token gestures to push the guilt into your subconscious and act self-righteous about it. The only difference is that those liberal do-gooders occasionally manage to do a little good with their ego defense mechanisms. This doesn't justify spending twice as much on celebratory galas as on actual charity work, but it's more than Megan's little pet charity manages.
The more you try to avoid becoming something you hate, the more likely you make it that's exactly what you'll become.

1 comment:

M. Bouffant said...

Why did I have a suspicion that I "knew" more than one special elf? Ho ho ho!