The emptiness of a politicized life

I’m talking about people who say “I want nothing to do with [Person X] because he is a conservative/liberal/Republican/Democrat in his personal life.”

Enter this essay by Kevin Blackwell on Dr. Ben Carson, in which the author has decided to throw a hero of his overboard because, gasp, he believes in lower taxes and doesn’t support affirmative action! And he said so at CPAC! Quelle horreur! …

Let’s just unpack the intolerance here. The author admits to thinking of the “famed pediatric neurosurgeon” as a hero, loved his autobiography, etc. But then the dastardly doctor went rogue on poor Mr. Blackwell. Carson dared to believe something different than him! What, how, who … there must be an explanation for this! Don’t worry, Blackwell has figured it out: Carson is a craven opportunist just doing a dance for the white establishment …

So, to recap, in a few short days our intrepid essayist has gone from respecting a man for his intellectual achievements to denigrating him as little more than a puppet allowing his strings to be pulled for some filthy lucre and the adoration of idiots.