http://upnight.com/2010/01/24/obama-health-care-and-the-limits-of-empathy/ Mitchell Aboulafia Mon, 02 Apr 2012 05:36:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://upnight.com/2010/01/24/obama-health-care-and-the-limits-of-empathy/#comment-1181 Sun, 15 Aug 2010 03:22:29 +0000 http://upnight.com/?p=4024#comment-1181 [...] Obama, Health Care, and the Limits of Empathy [...]

]]> http://upnight.com/2010/01/24/obama-health-care-and-the-limits-of-empathy/#comment-1007 Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:43:25 +0000 http://upnight.com/?p=4024#comment-1007 You said about the “birthers” and “teabaggers,” “it is not merely that they have firm convictions.” They have none. This is an expression of pure nihilism. It is hopelessness and powerlessness. There are no convictions to a negation, it is simply what it is, a negation—and the definition of value precludes this kind of retrograde activity. The problems here are philosophical, I agree, but there is a limit to philosophy as well, and when one strays too far beyond its horizon of conviction, of the statement of some coherent position, then one has strayed into the twilight of nihilism. And there is just nothing there, no particular landmarks. One should always point this out, rather than agreeing with those who do this and then claim that they are standing on firm ground, that they still have values (they mean in the everyday sense, which, sure, they do), when in fact in the debate under discussion they have nothing to offer. Only heckling. Obama knows this, but you seem to be struggling with it.
TOG

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