America’s Culture War - Foot Soldiers Of The Left Elite
By Michael Nevin (10/02/03)
Tammy Bruce is a self-described lesbian and feminist. She is the former president of the Los Angeles chapter of the National Organization of Women. Tammy Bruce is also one of the most important figures in America’s culture war, and she is the author of a disturbing yet enlightening book: The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values.
Bruce examines the “Left Elite” in America and explains why the death of right and wrong is so important to their cause. Malignant narcissism, a syndrome where a traumatized person seeks to project their worldview onto others, is the driving force behind the movement. “When your victimhood is your empowerment, recovery is the enemy,” asserts Bruce. The key component to further the agenda of the Left is moral relativism, the concept that destroys any idea of morality and values. When behavior is morally relative, there can be no judgment.
Political correctness, which claims to promote tolerance and acceptance, is rooted in moral relativism. Attacking America, Christianity, or the Boy Scouts is fair game. It only serves to restrict individual freedom of thought and speech of anyone challenging the tenets of the Left. This moral relativism has infected our campuses with catastrophic results. Bruce explains, “If your goal as a leftist is to instill at the very least ambivalence and at worst a hatred for America, you don’t dare allow legitimate courses about U.S. history into the curriculum.” Without knowledge of history, there can be no judgment. You can see the pattern, and identifying the problem is the first step to correcting it. What will the college of the future look like if the Left have their way? Take a look at San Francisco’s New College of California which offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees with a concentration in “activism and social change.” I suppose that means protesting is now a career opportunity.
The Death of Right and Wrong uses countless examples to expose the dead heart of the iconoclasts. From cop killers to pedophiles, society’s sickest have been defended, protected, and in some cases worshipped by the Left Elite. Bruce discusses several special interest groups, many of which she has firsthand knowledge: civil rights groups (gay, black, feminist), academia, the entertainment industry, and the judiciary. All have experienced a flash flood of morally challenged individuals. The Left Elite must constantly paint a picture of gloom and doom in order to hold onto their power. These false prophets choose to preach hopelessness rather than responsibility. Obviously, their role would become obsolete if their flock ever discarded the macabre message.
Tammy Bruce takes us on a journey through the Looking Glass, a world where everything is the opposite of truth. This world is not Alice in Wonderland but America in 2003. From the halls of higher education to the halls of Congress, a society rooted in morality and faith is under attack. But the nefarious agenda of the Left Elite is no longer some secret conspiracy. Read the editorial page of the New York Times or watch Michael Moore as he churns out another book or movie to feed his gravy train and you’ll see the Left Elite’s foot soldiers in action. Bruce explains, “Their moral relativism born of nihilism is indeed a cancer, but this is one disease that we do not have to allow to metastasize into our lives. We know what causes it—our own acquiescence to the Left’s bankrupt rhetoric. All we have to do is say no.”
When we allow moral relativism and the death of right and wrong to be the flavor of the month, we welcome a world of sociopaths and malignant narcissists. What kind of a society do we want to leave for our children? Should we still teach them that there is a difference between the cardinal virtues and the cardinal sins? Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” One good woman has decided she has seen enough.
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