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Going Green Makes You More Likely to Steal and Cheat
By Kyle | March 16, 2010
“Compensatory ethics” seems to be the reason why so many publicly virtuous, i.e. sanctimonious, i.e. liberal, people are, privately, rather dishonorable. To me, honor comes from within. It’s something you’d do even if there was no one watching. The liberal version of virtue, though, is something you parade before your neighbors and affix to your t-shirt or bumper. And check out this article from last year on how voting for a black guy for president gives white people a license to cut loose with their racism. Question: Can people predict these attitude shifts in themselves in advance? In other words, do you vote liberal/green/Obama because it means buying yourself a jerk-indulgence for later on?
Topics: Politics |
March 16th, 2010 at 11:39 am
Though there may be some correlation here, there is ZERO proof that there is causation. Anyone that puts up a grand public front for the purpose of getting away with private evils is at least a borderline sociopath in my opinion - nothing to do with liberal or conservative.
And by saying “publicly virtuous, i.e. liberal” are you implying that conservatives are publicly scumbags? I would have to agree with you on that one.
March 16th, 2010 at 11:43 am
No, I’m not saying conservatives are publicly scumbags. I’m saying they don’t try to show off their virtue. Absence of X does not indicate presence of anti-X.
March 16th, 2010 at 1:14 pm
But if they’re not publicly virtuous, what would you say they are publicly? D-bags?
March 16th, 2010 at 3:49 pm
I know what you mean Kyle, when sex scandals were revealed involving conservative politicians David Vitter, Mark Sanford, and John Ensign, those three showed both integrity and responsibility by immediately resigning their offices. Oh, wait, they didn’t did they?
March 16th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
“Nina Mazar and Chen-Bo Zhong, argue that people who wear what they call the ‘halo of green consumerism’ are less likely to be kind to others, and more likely to cheat and steal.”
I think that green consumerism is kind of a religion, but it’s a religion that has nothing to say about kindness to others or cheating and stealing. People turn green, begin feeling virtuous and superior, and believe they have a license to be a jerk.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Ann Althouse has an item about Toyota implying that the runaway Prius story is bogus. She concludes, “Surely, the man who bought a Prius is virtuous.”