Idiot Leftism

I enjoyed this extract from one of John Rentoul's recent comment pieces in The Independent which reproduces what I would describe as a flow-chart explaining the though process behind idiot leftism.

Essentially, this involves a willingness to distinguish between people's actions on their basis of their political or religious beliefs: so the behaviour of murderous Islamists is explained and justified, implicitly, by invoking their slights and grievances against the west, whether real or perceived.

The fact that they feel aggrieved is enough to 'legitimise' their actions although as far as I know no one is making the same excuse for a deluded murderer like Charles Manson.  

Take, for example, the Charlie Hebdo murders, the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, the cold-blooded killing of Drummer Lee Rigby or the radicalisation of Mohammed Emwazi which his supporters blame on the UK security services.

Now I would say that someone like Seumas Milne, the Guardian journalist, is full of Verkrappt and his knowledge of the subject seems to know no bounds, extending as it does to foreign affairs and not just Islamic fundamentalism.   


A lovely chart from Norman Geras two years ago, revived by The Gerasites, a website devoted to his memory and to keeping alive his wonderful spirit of genuine left-wing scepticism about fake left-wingery. Verkrappt, I should explain, is a mock-Yiddish word that Norman invented. You can work out what it means, I think.