“Jesus Loves You but I’m His favourite!”

I came across this observation (new to me) in a very interesting article by Benedict Carey in the IHT about what is known as the “holier-than-thou” effect – our inherent sense of our own moral superiority. WE would “never deliberately inflict pain on another person, just to obtain information” (waterboarding). WE would “never artificially inflate the value of some financial product, just to take advantage of others’ ignorance” (subprime mortgages). WE would never indulge in insider trading. WE would never stand by while someone is attacked. WE would never have cooperated with the Nazis, and so on and so forth. When I say “we”, I mean “I” of course.

I HOPE I would rise to the occasion but I cannot be sure, and indeed there is not much in my life to prove that I would necessarily have the moral and/or physical courage to stand up for what I think is right. I don’t write these words in a spirit of unseemly self-laceration (after all, life becomes impossible unless one has a reasonably high opinion of oneself). It’s just that it’s quite possible for me as an individual, and we as a society, to go through life without ever really being “put to the test”.