Thursday, April 14, 2016

Must Read Roger L. Simon: The Moral Narcissism of Bernie Sanders

An excellent essay from Roger L. Simon at PJ Media: 

"What interest me here is why Bernie Sanders -- a U.S. senator and the first Jewish presidential candidate -- would assert anything as absurd as the Israelis killed 10,000 innocent Gazan civilians. Why wouldn't he have the basic knowledge -- readily available to everyone as it is -- to know how far off his numbers were? Didn't he care?"

"Well, no. And there's a reason."

"That reason is moral narcissism, the underlying motivation behind what Andrew McCarthy so accurately calls "willful blindness." Bernie is willfully blind about Israel, even though he spent time on a kibbutz and still has relatives in the country."

"This moral narcissism that grips Bernie -- unlike the traditional narcissism of Narcissus admiring his handsome reflection -- is a narcissism of ideas and opinions. The views that make you feel good about yourself, that make others praise you and make you part of the "club," are what is most important to you and your self-image. They literally define you. Whether those views are based in fact or whether the results of those views are the least bit salutary is immaterial."

"The moral narcissist, therefore, is almost always blind to reality, indeed disinterested in it. It's the pronouncements that count and are real. Moral narcissism leads inexorably to politically correctness. It is, in fact, the mother's milk of political correctness."

"Lovable though he may appear, Bernie Sanders is a moral narcissist par excellence and a particularly dangerous one."