A basic British political division is not between left and right, or liberal and conservative, but ... between [those who] worry about how to make the world fairer, with occasionally embarrassing consequences, [and those who] worry about their stocks and shares.The article is a defence of 'liberal guilt'; interesting attempt at rehab.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/aug/29/liberal-guilt-good-for-you
2 comments:
Interesting concept! I wonder if, however, those on the right see worrying about stocks and shares as inherently about 'fairness' - that being in terms of it being 'unfair' to penalise someone for being financially successful. I've certainly heard it put that way before from people on the right, which rebuffs the polarized positons given in the article, which seems to imply you can't worry about fairness and stocks and shares. Bill Gates perhaps?
That's an interesting thing to note with regard to the way that different people and groups frame issues with regard to their own preferred priorities. And there may even be a point in the sense that that it does seem to be right to allow people to enjoy the fruit of their labour. Biblical witness is decidedly more skeptical about enjoying the fruit of what we now term 'financial products' -which are based on interest!
That aside; I took the main point of the article to be contrasting an outlook which is essentially about concern for others with one which justifies not being particularly concerned for others (usually finding ideological support for self-interest -pace the neo-Darwinian rhetoric of the market and trickle-down economics)
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