Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Brilliant

What We Are Not Embarrassed by

I don’t know if cigarettes or Marxism have killed more people, but it’s pretty clear cigarettes are more actively stigmatized. Marxists, neo-Marxists, crypto-Marxists, post-Marxists, etc. have an enduring influence on intellectual fashion. So it is not only possible proudly to confess Marx’s influence on one’s thought, but it remains possible in some quarters to impress by doing so. It ought to be embarrassing, but it isn’t.

2 comments:

Patrick Reily said...

The critical flaw of Marxism is its dependence on pervasive virtue, something severely stunted in the native human nature. I am persuaded that this is exactly what keeps an abstract ideological affiliation with Marxism in vogue. These professions afford the arrogant an opportunity to feign virtue with little obligation for personal sacrifice.

craig said...

That's a great point.