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Dhimmis, liberals, and conservatives
In a previous blog entry, two readers disagree with my suggestion of a similarity between liberalism and dhimmitude. They point out how liberals rush to surrender to the Other even when the Other isn’t expecting it. They also observe that the well-known phenomenon of liberal self-love distinguishes the liberal from the dhimmi, who is a beaten down and demoralized person. Now it’s certainly true that in a liberal such as Clinton self-abasing tolerance is combined with an overweening narcissism that is wholly undhimmi-like. But what about the conservatives? I’m thinking particularly of conservatives not when they yield or pay homage to the Other, but when they yield or pay homage to liberals, as in their repellantly sycophantic response to the death of Peter Jennings. Instead of being narcissistic, the conservatives, in true dhimmi fashion, have internalized the superiority of their liberal masters, and are sincerely seeking their approval. So, when liberals yield to the Other, they are acting more as self-regarding, America-hating liberals than as dhimmis; but when conservatives yield to liberals, they are acting more as abased and self-hating dhimmis than as liberals. And perhaps the same distinction applies to conservatives’ dealing with the Other. When conservative tolerate and include the Other, it is not, as with the liberals, an expression of liberal-style alienation and self-love; it is an expression of the conservatives’ obedient conformity to the prevailing liberalism.
In liberal society, liberals are the masters, conservatives are the dhimmis. Email entry |