Every now and then a ray of bright common sense suddenly emerges from the gloomy meaningless depths of the Absurd. It is naturally disguised, usually as a paradox, but it embodies a healthy insight all the same.

The late Eugene Ionesco, author of The Bald Soprano and other absurdist classics and a sharp critic of bourgeois society, once remarked: “Often, alas, the most detestable kind of bourgeois is the anti-bourgeois kind of bourgeois.”

If this does not speak directly to your current anxieties, let me translate it into modern political American:

“Often, alas, the most detestable kind of racist is the anti-racist kind of racist.”

The replacement of “racist” by “sexist” also works well.

To observe these personality deformations, visit any Ivy League campus or the Human Resources Department of any major corporation. Ph.D candidates in sociology who want to specialize in these aspects of reverse-authoritarianism studies are directed to the writings of Thomas Sowell and to the “Factual Feminist” featuring Christina Hoff Sommers.

Exorcism is required only in the worst cases.