Whatever You Got, I Hate
A look at Liberal Incoherence.

Your average leftist (is there any other kind?) never seems to know what he wants from the culture he lives in. The only he's ever able to dedicate himself to is that whatever culture, creatively or commercially is generated freely by the market is bad. There never seems to be any shortage of things to complain about.

The most common lament is that when commercial goods are expensive, the market isn't providing for the poor. On the face of it, this could theoretically be an admirable sentiment. Who's against helping the poor? No economic system is capable of completely eliminating poverty, and there will always be the needy among us who whether through misfortune or foolishness, or even addiction or disability, need the help of their fellow man.
Unfortunately, it doesn't end there.

When businesses like Wal-Mart use aggressive business policies to actually provide for the poor, they complain that the intangible 'social price' of helping the poor is unacceptable.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0473107/

The Adbusters and Chomskyite crowd then complain that markets and mass media result in a 'tragic' homogenization of culture.. (a homogenization that nevertheless generates sizable readership and budget for expensively printed, high-gloss faux-design-mag drivel like Adbusters)

http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1535254

...And then they complain when the culture provides too much choice. Tip: 'too much' choice is any choice not provided by them. CBC, I'm looking in your direction.
http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/11/news/economy/pluggedin_gunther.fortune/index.htm

Whatever happened to minding your own freaking business and consuming whatever aspects of arts and culture you found interesting, while shrugging off the fact that any free society will produce plenty of trash and that you don't have to have anything to do with it? Most of us call this little intellectual development of our lives "Adulthood". Apparently if you're merely doing that, your 'social conscience' is not actively engaged. Why is it that what we now call being politically 'conservative' used to be known as 'post-pubescence'?

They complain when the market makes huge successes, they complain when the market yields epic failures. (Air America and Radiopower.org, I'm looking in your direction.) They complain that there's too little, and that there's too much. That there's not enough, and what's provided is provided in the wrong way.

What's obvious by now is that the point is not what's provided. The point is that it's not them providing it.

The fragile ego of the liberal is constantly under assault whenever anyone gets what they want, as long as it isn't provided by them. Like the obnoxious, insecure, unpopular kid constantly barging into games and blurting "Can I play too?" even as he insults the intelligence of other players. The one who can never participate in any conversation without steering it to themselves and playing games of one-upmanship, (because you're just not that interesting, really) The one who says "No no, you're doing it wrong, let me." and proceeds to break everything he touches.

Maybe it's time someone told that kid that we grownups are doing just fine on our own, thanks.

-Nick

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