Comment by cle
5 days ago
I can't help but wonder if this is intentionally ironic.
(From TFA: "There's a certain kind of person who's attracted to a shallow, exacting kind of moral purity, and who demonstrates his purity by attacking anyone who breaks the rules.")
I think it’s intentional and ironic. But I don’t think PG realizes what he did. I throughly believe he’s in the space of “I can do it because i am morally superior. But other folks can’t because they don’t get it like I do.” I get this feeling from reading not just this, but his other essays too.
@malcomgreaves I'm not sure you caught the intended target of @cle's comment. I believe he was talking about your comment being the thing he thought may be intentionally ironic, not PG's essay.
One of the main points in the essay: "The problem with political correctness was not that it focused on marginalized groups, but the shallow, aggressive way in which it did so"
And your comment is a classic example of that behavior.
> I can do it because i am morally superior. But other folks can’t because they don’t get it like I do.
I think it’s more of “I can do it because I can afford it. But other folks can’t because they need their job (or something similar).”
Not sure about 'I can do it because I am morally superior'. Is it required to be morally superior to have an opposing view?
> other folks can't because they don't get it like I do
His point of view undoubtedly resonates with 'some folks'.