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Holier Than Thou – A New Atheistic, Liberal Puritanism
Social media, outrage and the birth of a new ‘I know what’s best for you’
We live in a strange time. As a teenager in the early 2000’s a defining aspect of our lefty ideology was our inability to be shocked. We grew up on a cultural diet of South Park, Hip Hop and Bukowski books. We laughed at figures like Mary Whitehouse who seemed to be in a permanent state of outrage about something she had chosen to sit down and watch on a Saturday night.
Liberty was to be a cornerstone of our philosophy, and although we may have wholeheartedly objected to prejudice and challenged it at any opportunity, I believe there was less of an impulse to silence dissenting opinions.
In fact, when I went to university to study politics it was fairly well understood that you could be on friendly terms with those who sat on your ideological opposite. As a pretty radical lefty, writing my dissertation on Anarchist philosophy I was still able to find commonalities with some of those on the more conservative end of the spectrum, whilst also feeling free to engage in strong and heated disagreements.
I feel very reluctant to align myself with those who bemoan ‘woke’ Gen Z. I can recognise a beautiful idealism in that generation and I am always distrustful of any black-and-white portrayals of individuals or…
