False Umbrage

An excellent, non-groveling, non-croweating punchback by Dana Milbank  in this morning’s Post:   

         The chimichanga wars

Excerpt:

The spat over the fried burrito gets at one of the most annoying components of our decaying political culture: false umbrage. Liberals created this form of identity politics, in which an underrepresented group claims persecution, but conservatives have embraced it. One of its most common expressions is the demand for an apology. It’s phony by definition — an apology can’t be sincere if it’s answering a demand — and the reflexive demand (like a demand for a resignation) serves only as an excuse to keep a news story alive. Sorry, but it’s time to put this tired gimmick to rest.

Don’t miss the very funny comments by readers.

There’s still hope.

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False umbrage is a term which (like “to downromney”)  deserves to enter our everyday vocabulary.   (A reader offered a more child-friendly synonym: mock outrage.)  Having a ready word for a thing  helps us notice that thing when it arises.  (For this insight, consult our chapter "The Stokes Conjecture", in The Semantics of Form in Arabic.)

It is a variety of a general phenomenon, usefully discussed by the Existentialists under the rubric mauvaise foi (“bad faith”).  Another variety is what C.S. Lewis skewered under the label of “delicacy”.

Compare this:

The non-apology apology.