Odysseus
09-09-2010, 12:12 AM
What a perfect description of what passes for leftist thought:
Oikophobia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oikophobia[1], coined by the British philosopher Roger Scruton, is here used as a non-clinical description of an 'anti-culture' prevalent among Western artists and intellectuals.
It is a combination of:
oikos - from the Greek meaning a “house,” “family,” “people,” or “nation” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
and
-phobia
(combining form) extreme or irrational fear or dislike of a specified thing or group -Webster's Dictionary
The term also occasionally appears in psychology with the more literal sense of a fear of home.
Scruton defines it as "the repudiation of inheritance and home," and refers to it as "a stage through which the adolescent mind normally passes."
An extreme and immoderate aversion to the sacred and the thwarting of the connection of the sacred to the culture of the West appears to be the underlying motif of oikophobia; and not the substitution of Judeo-Christianity by another coherent system of belief. The paradox of the oikophobe seems to be that any opposition directed at the theological and cultural tradition of the West is to be encouraged even if it is "significantly more parochial, exclusivist, patriarchal, and ethnocentric".
Usage
James Taranto, Oikophobia, Why the liberal elite finds Americans revolting, Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2010:
If you think it's offensive for a Muslim group to exploit the 9/11 atrocity, you're an anti-Muslim bigot and un-American to boot. It is a claim so bizarre, so twisted, so utterly at odds with common sense that it's hard to believe anyone would assert it except as some sort of dark joke. Yet for the past few weeks, it has been put forward, apparently in all seriousness, by those who fancy themselves America's best and brightest, from the mayor of New York all the way down to Peter Beinart.
Kuro5hin: technology and culture from the trenches, Oikophobia; antonym: Xenophobia, By anaesthetica in anaesthetica's Diary, Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 04:41:05 AM EST:
A chronic form of oikophobia has spread through the American universities, in the guise of political correctness, and loudly surfaced in the aftermath of September 11th, to pour scorn on the culture that allegedly provoked the attacks, and to side by implication with the terrorists.
Eunomia: Clearing the East of Christianity: Ignorance, Oikophobia or Alienation from Christianity?, July 1, 2006
. . . so we are either seeing an outpouring of oikophobia with respect to our Christian brethren, a startling demonstration of American ignorance, or a widespread admission that “we” are not really like the Christians of the Near East but apparently have more in common with their persecutors with whom we unwittingly or knowingly align ourselves.
2 Blowhards, Roger Scruton and Oikophobia:
Scruton also invents a nifty new word -- "oikophobia" -- to fight back against those who use terms like "racism" and "xenophobia" to stifle legitimate discussion of important matters.
Muck and Mystery: I'm Late, I'm Late: June 24, 2006:
The recent exposure of U.S. anti-terrorist methods by journalists - though not illegal, immoral or fattening - seems an example of U.S. quasi-leftist, pseudo-intellectual oikophobia. The intellectual neoteny of oikophobics is striking."
For an obvious example, pull up almost any post by Hazlnut, Wei or Satanicus. The seething hatred and arrogant contempt directed at their own countrymen is exactly what Scruton describes.
Oikophobia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oikophobia[1], coined by the British philosopher Roger Scruton, is here used as a non-clinical description of an 'anti-culture' prevalent among Western artists and intellectuals.
It is a combination of:
oikos - from the Greek meaning a “house,” “family,” “people,” or “nation” – Encyclopaedia Britannica
and
-phobia
(combining form) extreme or irrational fear or dislike of a specified thing or group -Webster's Dictionary
The term also occasionally appears in psychology with the more literal sense of a fear of home.
Scruton defines it as "the repudiation of inheritance and home," and refers to it as "a stage through which the adolescent mind normally passes."
An extreme and immoderate aversion to the sacred and the thwarting of the connection of the sacred to the culture of the West appears to be the underlying motif of oikophobia; and not the substitution of Judeo-Christianity by another coherent system of belief. The paradox of the oikophobe seems to be that any opposition directed at the theological and cultural tradition of the West is to be encouraged even if it is "significantly more parochial, exclusivist, patriarchal, and ethnocentric".
Usage
James Taranto, Oikophobia, Why the liberal elite finds Americans revolting, Wall Street Journal, August 27, 2010:
If you think it's offensive for a Muslim group to exploit the 9/11 atrocity, you're an anti-Muslim bigot and un-American to boot. It is a claim so bizarre, so twisted, so utterly at odds with common sense that it's hard to believe anyone would assert it except as some sort of dark joke. Yet for the past few weeks, it has been put forward, apparently in all seriousness, by those who fancy themselves America's best and brightest, from the mayor of New York all the way down to Peter Beinart.
Kuro5hin: technology and culture from the trenches, Oikophobia; antonym: Xenophobia, By anaesthetica in anaesthetica's Diary, Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 04:41:05 AM EST:
A chronic form of oikophobia has spread through the American universities, in the guise of political correctness, and loudly surfaced in the aftermath of September 11th, to pour scorn on the culture that allegedly provoked the attacks, and to side by implication with the terrorists.
Eunomia: Clearing the East of Christianity: Ignorance, Oikophobia or Alienation from Christianity?, July 1, 2006
. . . so we are either seeing an outpouring of oikophobia with respect to our Christian brethren, a startling demonstration of American ignorance, or a widespread admission that “we” are not really like the Christians of the Near East but apparently have more in common with their persecutors with whom we unwittingly or knowingly align ourselves.
2 Blowhards, Roger Scruton and Oikophobia:
Scruton also invents a nifty new word -- "oikophobia" -- to fight back against those who use terms like "racism" and "xenophobia" to stifle legitimate discussion of important matters.
Muck and Mystery: I'm Late, I'm Late: June 24, 2006:
The recent exposure of U.S. anti-terrorist methods by journalists - though not illegal, immoral or fattening - seems an example of U.S. quasi-leftist, pseudo-intellectual oikophobia. The intellectual neoteny of oikophobics is striking."
For an obvious example, pull up almost any post by Hazlnut, Wei or Satanicus. The seething hatred and arrogant contempt directed at their own countrymen is exactly what Scruton describes.