"Savage Capitalism" versus Socialist Savages

The bubble of smugness and overweening atmosphere of moral superiority in which European left-wing intellectuals dwell is just sickening. That bubble was on display this week when the essential difference between American and European ideas of equality came into clear focus.

America is built on the principle of equality before the law for rich and poor. This is Capitalist Equality. But Europe has re-defined equality to mean relative equality of income through the redistribution of wealth by the welfare state. This is Socialist Equality.

The European elites have a phrase they like to bandy about to make themselves feel superior to the Anglo-Saxon world: "savage capitalism." By this they apparently mean free market societies in which the poor actually have jobs and where the welfare state is minimalist and designed to get people back on their feet and self-reliant as soon as possible. The alternative to "savage capitalism" is a paternalistic welfare state that turns most of the population into wards of the State and the governing elite. For the contemporary European Left, "Equality" looks suspiciously like the old class-stratified Europe of the 19th century in which the rulers pay off the working classes with perks to keep them from bloody revolution. Despite all the Marxist rhetoric and socialist platitudes, Bismarck's welfare state is still the operative norm. The goal is to destroy liberalism by having the upper classes embrace a kind of socialism that provides bread and circuses for the masses in exchange for freedom. Dostoevesky's Grand Inquistor turns out to be a socialist, just as he prophesied.

All this was made clear once again in the Strauss-Kahn scandal in New York City. A "Master of the Universe" was hauled off a plane bound for France and charged with sexual assault. He stands accused of attacking a maid in a hotel like some sort of caveman. So far, this is certainly news but not totally unheard of; sociopaths sometimes achieve high positions and then do horrible things. I want to stress at this point, that I am not condemning socialism or the European welfare state because one particular politician stands accused of committing a crime. It is just as impossible to draw a line from his alleged criminal behavior (even if he turns out to be guilty) to his political convictions as it would be to do so when a conservative politician betrays his wife with an adulterous affair.

However, the reaction of French left-wing intellectuals to this case is an entirely different matter. Clearly, the left-wing intellectual elite in France has exhibited an attitude of entitlement, class-superiority and probably racism in their reaction. Instead of commending the New York police for doing their job, admiring American society for giving all people equality before the law and holding Strauss-Kahn responsible for his actions, they blamed the victim, condemned the police for treating a rich, powerful Eurocrat like anyone else and suggested that Strauss-Kahn was set up and actually innocent.

Instead of a rush to judgment there was a rush to rationalization.

This is no isolated case. These are the same people, Bernard-Henri Levy for example, who supported child rapist Roman Polanski when the authorities had the nerve actually to arrest him. Jonah Goldberg quotes Levy:

And what I know even more is that the Strauss-Kahn I know, who has been my friend for 20 years and who will remain my friend, bears no resemblance to this monster, this caveman, this insatiable and malevolent beast now being described nearly everywhere. Charming, seductive, yes, certainly; a friend to women and, first of all, to his own woman, naturally, but this brutal and violent individual, this wild animal, this primate, obviously no, it’s absurd.
This morning, I hold it against the American judge who, by delivering him to the crowd of photo hounds, pretended to take him for a subject of justice like any other.

There is more - much more - here. As Goldberg says, without knowing any of the facts Levy leaps to the defense of his friend and leaves himself very little wiggle-room. I suggest that the most telling part of Levy's remarks are the final sentence, which basically says that there should be one system of justice for the masses and another, more lenient, system for European big-shots like Strauss-Kahn, Polanski and Levy.

Jenn Q. Public at NewsReal Blog describes the media rape of the victim in the French press in sickening detail. This is her introducton:

The size of her breasts, the shape of her backside, and of course, her name. These are some of the details Le Monde, the French “journal de référence,” and its subsidiary Le Post published about the woman who says IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn groped her genitals and forced her to perform oral sex on him in a room at the Sofitel near Times Square.

France-Soir described the cut of her hotel maid uniform and how good she looks for a woman in her thirties, while France’s RMC radio reported that Strauss-Kahn’s attorneys were surprised by how “unattractive” she is.

One gets the sense that even the New York Times, which is the slavish follower of European social democracy most of the time, is not quite sure what to make of the French reaction. They simply reported it mostly without comment trying delicately to put the French concern for Stauss-Kahn and lack of concern for his alleged victim in the best possible light.

As our colleagues Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold report, “The arrest in New York of one of France’s leading global figures and a possible next president, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, on charges of attempted rape produced an earthquake of shock, outrage, disbelief and embarrassment throughout France on Sunday.”

Though horrified by those alleged crimes, the French press and political elite on Monday seemed perhaps more scandalized still by the images of Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s brusque treatment by the New York police, and his exposure in the American media.

Even the NTY couldn't cover up the fact that the French reaction contained far more concern for a rich, powerful Eurocrat than for a victimized woman.

This is not an anomoly; this is standard operating procedure for the French Left and for the European media. This attitude is one of entitlement, pride, arrogance, self-righteous superiority and racial superiority. When elitist Leftists think that poor women are rightly to be regarded as the prey of powerful men, this is objectively and accurately described as a bunch of socialist savages prowling around our society devouring the weak and the defenseless.

These socialist savages support abortion to cover up their sexual promiscuity and they contribute to the culture of death in several other ways as well. The rule of law is for the "little people" and the idea of natural law or objective moral right and wrong is a primitive superstition. The rhetoric of concern for "the poor" is useful in getting the naive and idealistic clergymen to fall into line and it looks good on campaign posters. But that is all it means: slogans and manipulation. In this Orwellian world, servant means master and social democracy means raping the help.

Jonah Goldberg says he is proud to live in a country where rich and poor are treated alike. Ironically, the alleged victim is from the West African country of Guniea, a country where the poor have few rights against the rich. (I suppose the Globe and Mail must be a right-wing rag for pointing out a few facts about the alleged victim.)

You want to talk about American Exceptionalism: here it is on display. In Guniea and France, rich men can rape poor women and get away with it. In New York City, the rich guy wears handcuffs and is denied bail. There is American Exceptionalism in a nutshell.

Now, I ask you, which country of the three is really civilized? Which is the one you want to live in if you are poor? It looks like the "savage capitalists" win hands down. Why? Because equality before the law is fundamental to human dignity and justice and much more important than welfare for the masses and elite privileges for the socialist elite.

I'm with the "savage capitalists" and if that shocks the French, that is because they are socialist savages who need to catch up with history.