Moral Authority and Folk Beliefs

Here's an interesting take on the left's reliance on "moral authority". The theory is that ideas like Marxism get distilled as they enter the public consciousness resulting in a sort of folk version. The folk version of Marxism pays special attention to class membership.

Folk Marxism looks at political economy as a struggle pitting the oppressors against the oppressed. Of course, for Marx, the oppressors were the owners of capital and the oppressed were the workers. But folk Marxism is not limited by this economic classification scheme. All sorts of other issues are viewed through the lens of oppressors and oppressed. Folk Marxists see Israelis as oppressors and Palestinians as oppressed. They see white males as oppressors and minorities and females as oppressed. They see corporations as oppressors and individuals as oppressed. They see America as on oppressor and other countries as oppressed.

And Maureen Dowd pronouncing that Cindy Sheehan has absolute moral authority leads the article.

It is an interesting take and it meshes with last night's post quite well.