IN PHILIP ROTH’S “The Human Stain”, a university professor finds himself accused of racial harassment after he jokingly asks whether two black students who fail to attend class are “spooks”. (He means “ghosts”; they hear a 1950s-era derogatory term for African-Americans.) It seems like a ludicrous case of political correctness run amok, until the reader discovers that the professor is himself a black man who is passing as white, and is racked by racial anxiety and guilt. His unfortunate word choice was not an innocent mistake but a sign of subconscious angst.
On March 20th Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister and current president of the Eurogroup (the council of euro-zone finance ministers), had a similar moment. In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a German daily, Mr Dijsselbloem said he was proud that during the euro crisis, northern European Union states had shown solidarity with southern ones (for example, by extending them billions in loans). But solidarity, he continued, entails obligations: “I cannot spend all my money on schnapps and women, and then ask for your support.” His point was that countries...Continue reading
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