"... we must be aware of the dangers which lie in our most generous wishes. Some paradox of our nature leads us, when once we have made our fellow men the objects of our enlightened interest, to go on to make them objects of our pity, then of our wisdom, ultimately of our coercion."That's Lionel Trilling, as quoted in an essay by Michael Knox Beran in City Journal. I quote this in reference to Pommie's insistence that Bruno Walther is "a good man, truth be told", and also as a self-cautionary reflection on my own tendency toward ideological categorization of other people's views. I found the essay fascinating, and the blurb for Beran's book sounds interesting too:
"...Mr. Beran exposes the romance of dominion that underlies the philosophy of social benevolence..."
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