John Derbyshire, Mohammed Atta, Ayn Rand, Newt Gingrich, Ann Coulter, Ghost Breitbart, Michelle Malkin and ultimately Kim, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, McCarthy. These are putative intellectuals who form their philosophy in bad faith with the rest of society. Where do they come from, these theorists of the KKK, Nazi Party, Al Qaeda, Hamas, Republican Party, any antisocial group (ha! irony)? And why are they so dangerous?
You are someone who lives in good faith with the rest of society. You pay taxes, stop at red lights, wave to your neighbors. But there exists a type of person who, although they may do those things, also burns with nihilist glee inside, actively seeks schadenfreude against the whole of humanity, is filled with spite for the endeavors of others. These cynics may even be us; I'm sure most have had at least a moment of "all politicians suck balls". But there's a difference; you, the non-cynic, have (haz?) bought in to society, at least to some degree, and you've made your peace with it. A Bad Person (tm) never does, in a basic way. He or she spends their twenties and thirties justifying their outlier status with hatred, and is never brought into the fold and never experiences a mellowing of negative friction with their fellow man. This results in something like sociopathy, which it just might be: a grown man or woman with poisonous attitudes, a negative view of life, convinced of their own moral and intellectual superiority. Bad People (tm) can sometimes possess a great amount of energy and motivation, that occasionally, combined with healthy amounts of luck, propels them into the seat of power. And then we're truly screwed, because such ideologues drag us all right to the brink of what Samuel R. Delany called 'cultural fugue', which means the death of the planet.
F'r instance- John Derbyshire makes a big deal out of his quiet lifestyle, but every aspect of it is a sham. He's married to a Chinese woman, but he penned an essay that explicitly states that a good reason to form a relationship with someone of another race is so that you can have intellectual ammo for arguing your racist point of view. He's apparently some kind of math professor, but the sciences are not immune from Bad People- you've got your Carl Duisberg, your Mengele, your Unit 731, MK-ULTRA etcetera. J. Frank Parnell! Jack Parsons!! He thinks that any thinking person will take his article about "The Talk" as an honest argument; but he doesn't really think that, he seeks only to score single points in the most dishonest and odious way possible.
The point is, he's not for anything; he's against everything. This kind of outlook is a reaction, and thus reactionary. And quite frequently this reaction (abreaction?) is channeled into revenge on the world. Bad People seek to punish the rest of us, for our laughing carefree ways, our smarmy well-adjusted disgusting pinkness. They hate us for our freedoms! And rightly so...I have certainly been, and continue to be, alienated a little bit, so I know how it feels. If anyone deserves punishment, it's the whole of our species. Bad People go too far, though. They consider themselves qualified to judge, they pursue opportunities to do so, all while showering contempt on everyone who disagrees with them.
