On Concerned Citizens

Loss is felt more keenly than gain. Thus the dragon, confronted with disappearance of the smallest coin from its hoard, is more distracted than by the gain of wagonloads of gold.

            So with intangibles, like respect, admiration, love: the antique idea that all goods (worldly and otherwise) are in limited supply, so that your gain is my loss, is still alive and rhetorical in parliaments today. Concerned citizens complaining.

            Currently we hear of ‘hate speech’. Anyone who disputes my presentation of truth ‘hates’ me and the category to which I belong. ‘Preaching hate’ is the latest manifestation of this cant. One might, for example, belong like some on the Right of politics, to the rich, privileged, or superior category. One might belong like some on the Left to the poor, disadvantaged, or even, God help us, the gay category. Naturally enough, some of the rich are secure enough not to miss a filament of respect; some of the poor leap at the chance to keep bits of respect for themselves alone. As with the dragon, the loss of a fragment of privilege or exclusivity is felt deeply.

            The concepts ‘first’, ‘most excellent’, ‘unique’ are honorifics predicated on exclusivity. What I keep you can’t have.

            Of course, nobody is preaching anything. ‘Preaching’ refers to making known the Gospel, like John the Baptist, who said, ‘He must increase; I must decrease.’ Or as Luke insists in so many ways, the Lord raises the lowly, but casts down the proud.