Seductive Beliefs
by Thomas Sowell
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One of the
painfully revealing episodes in Barack Obama's book "Dreams From
My Father" describes his early experience listening to a sermon
by the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. Among the things said in that sermon
was that "white folks' greed runs a world in need." Obama was literally
moved to tears by that sermon.
This sermon
may have been like a revelation to Barack Obama but its explanation
of economic and other differences was among the oldest – and most
factually discredited – explanations of such difference among all
sorts of peoples in all sorts of places. Yet it is an explanation
that has long been politically seductive, in countries around the
world.
What could
be more emotionally satisfying than seeing others who have done
better in the world as the villains responsible for your not having
done as well? It is the ideal political explanation, from the standpoint
of mass appeal, whether or not it makes any sense otherwise.
That has been
the politically preferred explanation for economic differences between
the Malay majority and the more prosperous Chinese minority in Malaysia,
or between the Gentile majority and the Jewish minority in various
countries in Europe between the two World Wars.
At various
other times and places, it has been the preferred explanation for
the economic differences between the Sinhalese and the Tamil minority
in Sri Lanka, the Africans and the Lebanese in Sierra Leone, the
Czechs and the Germans in Bohemia and numerous other groups in countries
around the world.
The idea that
the rich have gotten rich by making the poor poor has been an ideological
theme that has played well in Third World countries, to explain
why they lag so far behind the West.
None of this
was original with Jeremiah Wright. All he added was his own colorful
gutter style of expressing it, which so captivated the man who is
now President of the United States.
There is obviously
something there with very deep emotional appeal. Moreover, because
nothing is easier to find than sins among human beings, there will
never be a lack of evil deeds to make that explanation seem plausible.
Because the
Western culture has been ascendant in the world in recent centuries,
the image of rich white people and poor non-white people has made
a deep impression, whether in theories of racial superiority – which
were big among "progressives" in the early 20th century – or in
theories of exploitation among "progressives" later on.
In a wider
view of history, however, it becomes clear that, for centuries before
the European ascendancy, Europe lagged far behind China in many
achievements. Since neither of them changed much genetically between
those times and the later rise of Europe, it is hard to reconcile
this role reversal with racial theories.
More important,
the Chinese were not to blame for Europe's problems – which would
not be solved until the Europeans themselves finally got their own
act together, instead of blaming others. If they had listened to
people like Jeremiah Wright, Europe might still be in the Dark Ages.
It
is hard to reconcile "exploitation" theories with the facts. While
there have been conquered peoples made poorer by their conquerors,
especially by Spanish conquerors in the Western Hemisphere, in general
most poor countries were poor for reasons that existed before the
conquerors arrived. Some Third World countries are poorer today
than they were when they were ruled by Western countries, generations
ago.
False theories
are not just an intellectual problem to be discussed around a seminar
table in some ivy-covered building. When millions of people believe
those theories, including people in high places, with the fate of
nations in their hands, that is a serious and potentially disastrous
fact of life.
Despite a carefully
choreographed image of affability and cool, Barack Obama's decisions
and appointments as President betray an alienation from the values
and the people of this country that are too disturbing to be answered
by showing his birth certificate.
Too many of
his appointees exhibit a similar alienation, including Attorney
General Eric Holder, under whom the Dept. of Justice could more
accurately be described as the Dept. of Payback.
May
31, 2011
Thomas
Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford
University. His Web site is www.tsowell.com.
To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other
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