Simon says OJ dunnit

When Ann Althouse's Li'l Greenie (above) was "Mugged by reality?" a couple of years back, we used her misfortune as a jumping-off point for a little light liberal bashing, contrasting "those of the right, who believe government ought to get out of the way and provide incentives for citizens to become proud, contributing members of society vs. those of the left, who know what's best for us and are into squeezing the money out of the productive citizens' pockets to perpetuate dependency -- humiliation, at bottom -- for the "little people." (Ann Althouse photo)

"Aid given to people -- no matter who they are -- when it is not earned carries with it a level of insult and denigration. It comes from on high to down low and carries with it an implicit message of lowness," writes Pajamas Media CEO Roger L. Simon, "reminiscing about the trial that changed his life -- or at least his political leanings -- forever":

“OJ Changed My Life” may sound like a headline from the National Enquirer, but it’s true . . . partially anyway.

When people ask me about my relative soft shoe to the political center after decades as a dedicated left-liberal, they usually say something like: “You’re one of those 9/11 Democrats, aren’t you? Like your buddy Ron Silver.” I mostly nod. It’s hard to deny 9/11 altered my view of things considerably. But what I almost always don’t tell them is those views were already changing -- because of the OJ Trial. In a sense, weird as this may sound, the Juice prepped me for 9/11 . . .

I began to think of Johnnie Cochran as condescending to the African-American community, as their enabler, treating them like children who would believe something as imbecilic as “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” Cochran was in a way the racist in how he dealt with his own people. He was certainly a racist in the way he dealt with white people.

I didn’t say that out loud in those days, at least not very often, but I began to think it. It was the first chink in my very traditional liberal armor, the first time I thought outside a conventional wisdom that I had never questioned in my life.

In a riveting narrative, Roger puts his finger on exactly what's wrong with the liberal project. Reader RJH of That Political Blog sums it up nicely in the comments:

That's a good read and I have heard several variations on that theme from others. Not so much OJ specifically but people that had been life long liberals that changed their beliefs after taking a long hard honest look at what affirmative action and other Democrat causes had done to the black community. The black family structure was the strongest in the country. Today it has been decimated by Democrat "compassion." I doubt they could have done more damage if they had tried.

Democrat "compassion" was never about the have-nots -- however defined -- anyway. It's always been all about "feeling good about themselves," a theme blogged here early and often. As we wrote last year in "Even when you win you lose because there's no learning curve":

Feeling good about themselves is where they're at. Consequences be damned. While Rome burned.

"That old Scrooge Roger L. Simon spent his entire Sunday writing an article relating OJ to 9/11 of all things (well sort of)," quips the man of the hour at his own website. OJ's loss is our gain.

Comments

[goomp]

All of which shows that there may still be hope. Liberals are not necessarily stupid, but many of them who aren't have not yet received the jolt that makes them stop and think clearly. Here's to more like Roger L. Simon.

[Gayle Miller]

Goomp is so doggone smart! I know lots of former liberals who are conservative Republicans these days. They almost always say that they didn't leave the Democratic Party - it left them!

[RJH]

It is a story I have heard time and again. Many people just assume that compassion is defined by how much you give away.

I think true compassion is defined by how much you no longer need to give away.

Too many people assume that doing something that makes them feel good about themselves must be moral and right when really it is the height of selfishness.

[mary o'hayes]

The notion of "feeling good about oneself" is what got Deval Patrick elected guv'nah here. He is a feel-good guy, touchy-feely, Mr. "I hear you." We didn't love the September 11th hijackers enough, did we, Guv'nah? And the people who voted for him got to feel good about themselves for voting for him. My, weren't they evolved and progressive? Next step: 42-billion-dollar state budget, all-time record, and three casinos - easy money! Hundreds of millions of dollars! Don't worry, we'll make those greedy developers pay a tax to support Gamblers Anonymous! Problem solved. Deval Patrick is the very embodiment of liberal idiocy. He is manifesting exactly what you speak of here.