Published in the Wakefield Daily Item Forum, July 24, 2017.
A disturbing and dangerous social phenomenon is sweeping through Wakefield and the country at large. It’s called the Superiority Syndrome. This scary societal malady has risen like a tidal wave, pushing aside more trivial community problems such as poverty, racism, misogyny, and prejudice.
The most recent and pernicious manifestation of this problem is “conspicuous compassion”: when people excessively “signal” their compassion for the welfare of others with lawn signs (e.g. Hate Has No Home Here) or with other outward indicators such as hats or t-shirts or bumper stickers (e.g. Coexist). But beware – this signaling is just a put-on. What these self-righteous elitists (the most common brainwashees) are really doing is asserting their moral superiority over those around them.
What caused this spontaneous rise in faux compassion? It’s not clear. Of course there have been reports on developments that you might *think* would be related. For instance, I read in a pretty serious magazine that the Council on American-Islamic Relations reported a more than fifty percent increase in Anti-Muslim attacks last year. And that the Anti-Defamation League reported that anti-Semitic crimes rose by more than a third in 2016, and even more steeply so far this year. I heard about research from California State University tracking hate crimes in nine metro areas that measured a rise of more than twenty percent last year. Locally, there was a story in Sunday’s paper about how Metco students in the Boston area are still subjected to racist comments and incidents, and there was even a recent report of anti-Semitic graffiti at neighboring Reading High School. I’m sure, however, that this is all FAKE NEWS.
And even if it’s not fake news, what’s the big deal? I mean, it’s not as if black folks and Muslims and Jews and women and LGBT folks haven’t dealt with this kind of thing before, right? It’s not like we’re back in Selma, Alabama, in 1965 or anything. Don’t be such a bunch of snowflakes! What all these rainbow reactionaries and persnickety progressives need to realize is that “we’ve come a long way as a society in terms of human and civil rights,” as the astute Item writer put it (“Hate-free zone,” July 20). What’s more, the author sagely reveals that we live in a “homogeneous suburban community.” Folks who are different need to get with the program. And if sameness is the goal and we’ve made so much progress, what do we need all these signs for anyway? What do we need a Human Rights Commission for? I mean, c’mon.
The Superiority Syndrome is tricky. These poor afflicted people masquerade around like they actually care about an issue. But don’t let them fool you. All they really want to do is signal their moral superiority. Believe me, what’s relevant here is not what these people actually think or feel – that couldn’t matter less. What’s important is what *you* think they think. If you see a sign and it gives you a pang of anger, that’s a sure signal that the other person, the person who put up the sign, has a problem. As for you, no worries, you’re good.
Luckily, we have the ever-vigilant and clear-eyed Wakefield Daily Item to warn us about this dangerous phenomenon and to weigh in, as usual, with thoughtful, reasonable insights and advice. The article that sounded the alarm, though ostensibly just an opinion column, was so informative, so balanced and generous in its perspective, as well as uplifting and constructive in tone. It was truly almost downright inspiring. Also, I monitored social media after reading the article. As often happens in highly alarming cases like these, people shot the messenger and took out their perfectly understandable fear and angst on the poor Item writer who broke the story. Sad!
But this is much bigger than one person. In fact, the Superiority Syndrome can have all manner of manifestations. It all has to do with conspicuousness. Next time you see someone doing, well, just about anything *conspicuously* — that’s the “signal.” Pretty soon, we’ll all know that when someone wants to show their compassion, or help the environment, or be patriotic, or whatever, they’re really just asserting moral superiority. Just a few examples:
-People showing civic spirit by posting on social media that they’re at official Town meetings, making us all feel bad that we’re not there and that we’ve failed as citizens. (Moral superiority.)
-People showing patriotism by hanging the Stars & Stripes prominently from their front porch (and especially more than one flag), trying to prove that they’re more patriotic than we are. (Moral superiority.)
-Me, as a Marine veteran, wearing my USMC baseball cap, “signaling” to other Marines that I have a special connection with them and potentially making ordinary civilians feel that they’re not as special. (Moral superiority.)
-People advocating for a plastic bag ban in town, trying to impose their holier-than-thou, treehugger mindset on everyone and trampling the individual consumer’s God-given right to disposable plastic bags. (Moral superiority)
You get the idea. We need to get our priorities in order in this town. We need to stop worrying so much about all these other tiresome social issues and pay attention to the real threat: the devastating epidemic of the Superiority Syndrome.
We also need more conspicuous sarcasm. But that goes without saying.
© Jeff Kehoe
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