A major problem today is the moralizing hysteria with which many late liberal activists have manifested in pushing their agenda. They persecute and stigmatise their real or perceived opponents with inquisitorial zeal. A permanent “witch hunt” paralyses substantive social debate. Part of society retreats into privacy and resigned silence, the other part seeks financial advantage and security in group conformity.
We will once again see social revolts and a ruthless war between rich and poor. This will be the legacy of a vanishing liberalism.
The tragedy of the West is that, after two centuries of industrial revolution, social upheaval, revolutions, world wars, fascism and communism, it has at last reached the possibility of establishing a socially just society, enjoying not untold wealth and indulgence, but a life of dignity and freedom for all citizens. The impressive post-war reconstruction seemed to hold great promise. But then suddenly, at the end of the twentieth century, the interplay of greed, corruption and stupidity of political, economic and intellectual elites brought a decay to the heart of the West that buried this dream. We will once again see social revolts and a ruthless war between rich and poor. This will be the legacy of a vanishing liberalism.
Ivo Budil is a Czech professor of antropology.
