{"id":410,"date":"2012-04-06T13:36:20","date_gmt":"2012-04-06T17:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=410"},"modified":"2012-04-06T13:36:20","modified_gmt":"2012-04-06T17:36:20","slug":"commentators-and-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/04\/commentators-and-character.html","title":{"rendered":"Commentators and Character"},"content":{"rendered":"

The decision to become a cultural commentator or pundit, like any other decision, comes at a cost.\u00a0 Perhaps not unsurprisingly, scarcely any commentator has thought to comment<\/em> on the danger to one\u2019s moral character that this decision imposes.<\/p>\n

Granted, the hypocrisy of \u201cintellectuals\u201d has long been noted.\u00a0 The problem, though, is that those who have done the noting have usually been right leaning <\/em>intellectuals and those intellectuals on whom they have set their sights have been left leaning. <\/em><\/p>\n

In stark contrast, the temptation to which I refer has nothing at all to do with politics or ideology, for commentators of every conceivable bent are alike in danger of succumbing to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The commentator spends much of his time identifying all that is wrong with his world. He criticizes politicians, other commentators, and pretty much anyone else who he judges worthy of criticism.\u00a0 This enterprise in and of itself isn\u2019t necessarily objectionable; in fact, we might even want to say that, if prosecuted honestly, civilly, and respectfully, it is an enterprise from which society reaps no small measure of value.<\/p>\n

But this doesn\u2019t change the fact that, like the hero of a classic Greek tragedy, the commentator\u2019s strength has the very real potential to be his undoing. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Given his excessive focus on the moral failings of others, it is far too easy for the commentator to lose sight of his own character deficiencies. And that most of his energies are invested in speaking to such grandiose moral issues as war, government corruption, immigration, abortion, and the rest, he is that much more at risk of not taking stock of the beam in his own eye, for he is that much more disposed to regard the morality of everyday life as almost intolerably insipid by comparison.<\/p>\n

Yet it is the morality of daily life that shapes one\u2019s character.\u00a0 A person\u2019s very identity as a moral agent is chiseled out over the course of a lifetime by each and every choice that he makes.\u00a0 His virtue is his habit<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, his vice <\/em>is his habit also.<\/p>\n

And this is the point.<\/p>\n

Because of his preoccupation with calling attention to the vices of others, the commentator is in much danger of ignoring his own vicious habits.\u00a0 This negligence, in turn, can only result in the strengthening of those habits and the formation of new ones.<\/p>\n

There are certain vices to which the commentator is particularly prone.<\/p>\n

For starters, his confidence in his ability to diagnose and <\/em>recommend \u201csolutions<\/em>\u201d <\/em>to the planet\u2019s ills pits him never more than a step away from succumbing to arrogance<\/em>.\u00a0 To put this another way, if <\/em>it can be found there at all, the virtue of humility <\/em>is never in a more precarious position than when it dwells within the character of the commentator.<\/p>\n

Secondly, in seeking as wide a hearing as possible for his ideas, what the commentator basically seeks is fame.\u00a0 In itself, the desire for fame, for recognition, is no more blameworthy than the desire for pleasure.\u00a0 Yet once it becomes one\u2019s summa bonum, <\/em>\u201cthe supreme good,\u201d then it becomes an obsession.\u00a0 All obsessions breed vice.\u00a0 But this <\/em>obsession gives rise to the most hideous of character defects: greed. <\/em><\/p>\n

The commentator who has become obsessed with fame is covetous of his colleagues\u2019 recognition.\u00a0 He will, at best, ignore them; at worst, he will steal their ideas and repackage them as his own.\u00a0 The virtue of generosity <\/em>or charity <\/em>is hard for him to come by.<\/p>\n

This obsession with fame can all too easily give rise to other vices, namely, dishonesty <\/em>and cowardice.<\/em><\/p>\n

For the sake of fame, the commentator will stake out positions that are popular, but in which he doesn\u2019t really believe, or which he will refuse to question.\u00a0 For the sake of fame, he will avoid tackling issues that, though critical in their own right, are nevertheless taboo; the commentator will not risk being ostracized.<\/p>\n

The commentator\u2019s love of fame also explains the inconsiderateness <\/em>that he is wont to own.\u00a0 He is unlikely to give much thought to anyone who isn\u2019t instrumental in securing for him the fame that he craves.\u00a0 Thus, he replies only to those inquiries the come from those who will serve his career purposes.\u00a0 And even then, depending on the degree of importance that he assigns to others, his emails are devoid of all traces of thoughtfulness: there are no introductions, sentences are truncated to the point of being barely coherent, words are misspelled, letters that should be capitalized are lower cased, etc.\u00a0 At least he responds, but the character of those responses unveils the excessive self-absorption of their author, a person for whom no day can have enough hours.\u00a0 The commentator can barely pencil anyone into his schedule.<\/p>\n

Of course, not all commentators embody these vices.\u00a0 But all of us\u2014<\/em>I am no exception\u2014are never far from acquiring them.\u00a0 So, what can the commentator do to avoid rendering himself into a despicable human being?<\/p>\n

I would suggest that, first of all, he strive to overcome his sophomoric jealousy of his colleagues.\u00a0 If a commentator is a radio show host, he should mention, by name, <\/em>those of his colleagues to whom he would otherwise only subtly allude, and if he is writer or a television personality, he should do the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also, the commentator should try, every once in a while, to commend <\/em>rather than criticize.<\/p>\n

Thirdly, if at all possible (and this may not always be possible for some), he should respond, thoughtfully, to every email that isn\u2019t bitter and hateful.\u00a0 Those people who take the time to ingest the commentator\u2019s work and <\/em>compliment him on it deserve <\/em>to be answered\u2014even if only by way of a simple \u201cthank you.\u201d\u00a0 Responding to emails may detract from the commentator\u2019s own work, but he owes what recognition he has to precisely those people who contact him.\u00a0 Plus, the objective here is to avoid selfishness and hypocrisy, so it is necessary that he should reciprocate his fans\u2019 considerateness.<\/p>\n

Finally, the commentator must recognize that fame is fleeting.\u00a0 His work is a sham if it is untruthful.\u00a0 He must tell the truth, even if that means that he will not be loved by \u201cthe respectable crowd\u201d\u2014even if it means that he will be despised and reviled by his contemporaries who haven\u2019t the\u00a0will to engage reality. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jack Kerwick, Ph.D.<\/p>\n

originally published at The New American\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The decision to become a cultural commentator or pundit, like any other decision, comes at a cost.\u00a0 Perhaps not unsurprisingly, scarcely any commentator has thought to comment on the danger to one\u2019s moral character that this decision imposes. 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