The Temptation of Innocence - Living in the Age of Entitlement

336 Pages·2000·1.3 MB·English

by  Pascal Bruckner

The Temptation of
Innocence
Pascal Bruckner

The Temptation of
Innocence
—
Living in the
Age of Entitlement

Algora Publishing
New York
Algora Publishing, New York
© 2000 by Algora Publishing
All rights reserved. Published 2000.
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 1-892941-56-2
Table of Contents

Introduction: The Incredible Shrinking Man 5

PART I — IS BABYHOOD MAN’S FUTURE? 15

1. The Victory of the Individual, or Crowning the King of Dust 17
Be yourself — that is, guilty, 19. In the dock, 25. A Pyrrhic
victory, 28. All equal, all enemies, 32. The clone syndrome,
36. Tired of being ourselves, 40.

2. Re-Enchanting the World 47
Irrefutable abundance, 48. Perpetual Easter, 52. Sublime
stupidities, 55. Everything, and right away!, 60. Happiness
is a good inheritance, 61. Insatiable demand, 64. Life is a
party, 67. A sedative for the eyes, 70. Universal consolation,
73. The routine as a route to re-enchantment, 76. Consum-
ers are not the same as citizens, 79. The puerile land of
plenty, 84.

3. Tiny Little Grownups 89
The good savage in residence, 90. His Majesty The Baby, 94
From child-citizen to citizen-child, 97. It’s so hard being an
adult, 101. Too much of Toyland, 106. The seduction of
kitsch, 108. Be yourself, 111. I deserve it, 113.

PART II — A THIRST FOR PERSECUTION 121

4. Joining the Elect, by Suffering 123
The marketing of affliction, 124. We are all cursed, 127.
Don’t judge me! 135. Toward a holy family of victims? 139.
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The Temptation of Innocence
A thirst for persecution, 146. Comfort in defeat, 150.

5. The New War of Secession (between Men and Women) 159
From Hitler to Playboy, 160. Female dictatorship, 161.
Freedom, equality, irresponsibility, 165. My roots, my
ghetto, 172. Forgetting where you come from, 177.
Women as flowers, and the pornocrats, 181. Eros bound,
185. Curing the heart of itself, 191. Being seductive, or be-
ing frank, 197. Complicity or deafness, 201.

PART THREE — VICTIMIST COMPETITION 213

6. The Innocence of the Torturer (The victim, in Serb propaganda) 215
A fundamental error, 216. The exaltation of defeat, 219.
Genocide as a rhetorical device, 223. A false assimilation,
227. The Jew as both competitor and role model, 228.
Everyone is against the Serbs, 232. The right to revenge,
236. Thieves of distress, 241. Angelic killers, 243.

7. The Arbitrary Reign of the Heart (The misadventures of pity) 257
1) THE LAW OF FLEXIBLE FRATERNITY, 258. Routine in-
sults, 258. Pain: upping the ante, 261. The impotent im-
age, 263. Intermittencies of the heart, 266. A big spoon,
270. Skimming or selecting, 271.

2) LOVING INDIGENCE, 274. The transcendence of the vic-
tim, 274. The actor’s pain, 279. A narcissistic commotion,
282. Sainthood without the hardship, 285.

3) EXTRANEOUS PEOPLE, 288. The pact of tears, 288. Com-
passion as a form of contempt, 291. The menu approach,
295. Revising history, 297.

Conclusion: A narrow door for revolt 307
The sense of indebtedness, 310. The chaos of misfortunes,
312. Inevitable disappointment, 315.

List of insets 319

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