Compassion Gone Astray
Since Dr. Jordan Peterson is on trial for calling out the escalating insanity of woke culture, I wanted to share with you a quote from his recent interview with Amala Expunobi where he says:
It's definitely the case that one of the sources of sophisticated morality is compassion. Although, we are making a big mistake in the modern world by elevating compassion to the status of "unique virtue." Because there are a lot of other more primordial building blocks of virtue that are as important as compassion.
So, for example, everyone's enjoined now to not be judgmental. And that really means to be casually dismissive. And I do think casually dismissive is a mistake. But judgmental, discriminating — that's not a mistake, that's a virtue. Because to be judgmental and discriminating means you dispense with what isn't worthy and you pursue what is worthy...
But compassion leaps out to dominate. So it's easy to assume that if you're motivated by something like a reflexive compassion [then] everything you think and want is... good, practical, necessary and morally justifiable.
Worse than that — and this may be the most toxic element of it — is if you believe you are motivated by compassion and compassion is the highest virtue, and you run into anyone who opposes your views, then it's super easy to demonize them.
Doesn't that sound like a summary of the last three years? Anyone who exercised discrimination and refused to wear a mask, stay home or get the jab, were demonized. While those who muzzled themselves, social distanced and rolled up their sleeve were said to be performing wondrous acts of compassion.
As Stefanie says in Much Ado About Corona: “New-normal acts of phony altruism. Remember when charity meant actually reaching out and helping people?”
And it didn't matter if those "compassionate" actions were actually harmful. As long as people were motivated by reflexive compassion, then they were on their way to sainthood. While those "selfish" people who refused to go along with the lies could go to hell.
Reduce morality to one virtue, like compassion, may be convenient, but it's hardly realistic and extremely dangerous.
Stay sane, stay real,
John C. A. Manley
PS You can watch or listen to Peterson's interview with Amala Expunobi on YouTube, or pay for an extended, ad-free version on Daily Wire.
PPS On the subject of discrimination, this month's issue of Druther's newspaper reprinted my article, Died Suddenly: A Gigantic Conspiracy Theory Frittata?
John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/
