I have often wondered why many on left side of the political spectrum view those on the right with such venomous contempt and outright hatred. To the left anyone who supports capitalism and speaks out against socialism is seen as “heartless”, or “without conscience”. Perhaps because I include myself in the camp of those on the right I’m particularly sensitive to these views, but what can I say, words hurt.
Another perspective I’ve observed is that, while I honestly believe most people on the left (or “progressives” as they now like to be called) are genuinely trying to make the world a better place, they will not afford those on the right the same acknowledgement. That is: if you are a right-wing capitalist your motive is to make the world a worse place. We on the right are not given at least the courtesy of having good intentions.
This mind set helps to justify the actions of people like Hugo Chavez, who stood before the United Nations and declared that George Bush was the devil:
The devil — the devil, himself, is right in the house.
And the devil came here yesterday.
(APPLAUSE)
Yesterday, the devil came here. Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of.
Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.
In today’s Wall Street Journal Peter Berkowitz writes about The Insanity of Bush Hatred:
In short, Bush hatred is not a rational response to actual Bush perfidy. Rather, Bush hatred compels its progressive victims–who pride themselves on their sophistication and sensitivity to nuance–to reduce complicated events and multilayered issues to simple matters of good and evil. Like all hatred in politics, Bush hatred blinds to the other sides of the argument, and constrains the hater to see a monster instead of a political opponent.
If it were only the intellectual debate that was at stake I wouldn’t mind the hatred quite so much, but hatred is a very strong emotion and it inspires irrational and often violent behaviour. If you believe your fight is against “evil” you’re able to justify almost any tactic or resistance to win that fight.
