Home / General / I <em>would</em> be a moral monster, were it not for…

I would be a moral monster, were it not for…

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From a “hard-hitting” interview with Gov. and Ms. Romney:

DAVID GREGORY: There was something that caught my attention, I’m sure it caught yours from the keynote speaker of the Democratic convention, which is—sort of went to this charge that somehow neither one of you are as empathetic about what’s going on in the country to people who are out of work. And the line was from from Julian Castro, the mayor of San Antonio, “You just don’t know how good you’ve had it.”  How did that sit with you?

MS. ROMNEY: The thing that I want to communicate to people, and that it’s so important that people understand, is that Mitt and I do recognize that we have not had a financial struggle in our lives.  But I want people to believe in their hearts that we know what it is like to struggle.  And our struggles have not been financial, but they’ve been with health and with difficulties in different things in life.  And one thing that I again like to remind people is that multiple sclerosis has been my teacher. It has been at times a cruel teacher.  But it has also been a great gift in my life because what it has done it has taught me to be more compassionate and caring for others that are suffering.  And I know that people are suffering right now.  And for people to think that we don’t have empathy just because we’re not suffering like they’re suffering is ridiculous.

Because life is a metaphor for baseball: Castro says that those born on third base don’t know how difficult it is to hit a triple. Ms. Romney responds by conceding that she doesn’t know what third base is and noting that standing in the warm summer sun is difficult too. Which it certainly is. Third base is a good place to be but by no means is it an inherently safe one. Most pitchers are right-handed so it’s easy to be picked off. Most batters are right-handed so when they pull the ball down the line hard and sharp you’re a target. And as Ms. Romney suggests, being on third base requires you to stand in the warm sun, meaning it’s possible that you’ll sunstroke or lock your knees and pass out or that swarms of angry hornets from the concessionary will ascend and attack you. That could happen. In fact it did happen to Ms. Romney:

She was standing on what she didn’t know was third base, minding her own business, when a small plane sucked a large duck into one of its propellers and caused a gruesome hail of engine and duck parts to rain down upon the field. A heavy metallic something brained Ms. Romney that fine summer afternoon and she’s spent the rest of her life finding it more difficult to stand on what she still doesn’t know is third base than she did before. This statistically improbable event introduced her to a concept with which she wouldn’t be familiar otherwise: suffering.

That’s a fine defense of her position so long as you don’t look too closely at what it entails: that everyone who’s born on third base but  isn’t the victim of a statistically improbable event is incapable of empathy. Had it not been for multiple sclerosis she wouldn’t be able to understand the suffering of those not born on third. She’s confessing that she’s not like all those other sociopaths who neither understand the advantage of being born on third nor empathize with the struggles of those who weren’t. She’s admitting that people who think everyone’s parents can bankroll their children’s education or small business have neither understanding of nor empathy for the struggles and suffering of ordinary Americans.

In other words: by predicating her empathy on her multiple sclerosis, she unwittingly asserts that if she hadn’t been so stricken she’d be just as incapable of empathy as the man she married. They’d both be standing on third base, oblivious to the suffering in the stands and the struggles beyond the stadium walls.

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