Hijabs and Hypocrisy

Female chess players forced to wear hijab as governing body awards world championship to Iran, reads the headline. Understandably, chess players (and lots of others) are horrified. But then this...

Fide's Commission for Women's Chess called on participants to respect “cultural differences” and accept the regulations.

Ha; that language choice is an awfully interesting chess move!

Remember when environmentalists used to publicly lament that folks only get outraged about cute endangered species? Baby seals? An outrage! Beetles, lizards or mosquitos? Not so much. Similarly, liberals are all about cultural sensitivity...if the culture is one they find attractive. If not, other shades of indignation get swapped in. "Please hold a moment while we shift piques..."

These days, we've entirely lost our taste for delving into our own hypocrisies. Beyond Daily Show-style video clips of politicians saying contradictory things to contradictory audiences, nobody seems interested in examining contradictory impulses and sleepy assumptions. We're content to blindly power forward with our opinions and rage within comfortable channels of groupthink. I've met only one liberal who's even considered the Tolerance Paradox. I feel like a lonely outlier for having retained my taste for examining my own foolish blind spots.

The "Je suis Charlie" movement, for example, was obviously dementedly wrong-headed if anyone had taken a moment to really consider the situation. Yet, cutting the other way, I can't imagine many activists would support the Nazi march in Skokie these days. Too much nuance; too many layers of contradictory thought and feelings to be processed and resolved. We indulge our ids 100% of the time. That, alas, is the natural endgame for super-rich societies. Nous sommes Trump.