The Pathological Altruist

[Dutch Leonard]

David Brin, a physicist and science fiction writer, argues in one chapter that sanctimony can be as physically addictive as any recreational drug, and as destabilizing. “A relentless addiction to indignation may be one of the chief drivers of obstinate dogmatism,” he writes. “It may be the ultimate propellant behind the current ‘culture war.’ ” Not to mention an epidemic of blogorrhea, newspaper-induced hypertension and the use of a hot, steeped beverage as one’s political mascot.

This is a fascinating article and explains a lot about people whose lives have one main theme.

But if the "hot steeped beverage as a political mascot" is a veiled reference to the Tea Party, then I have to set everyone straight. They take their name from the Boston Tea Party, where tea was dumped in the harbor, which is a terrible waste of tea. I love tea. A lot. I will not stand for it to be wasted or disrespected. The Tea Partiers should be referred to as Tea Baggers, which refers to a preposterous and juvenile act that involves placing one person's testicles on another person's face or head, or a type of oral sex where the testicles are taken into the mouth.

And I totally know what to do with the limited life boats. I wouldn't let the Tea Baggers on them.

But I guess that makes me a lot less like an altruist and a little more like a mass murderer and therefore vastly unqualified to comment on this topic, but most of mass murderers tend to be sanctimonious and probably started out altruistic.