On Selective Indignation

The nature of “selective indignation,” a phrase which first appeared in a letter of mine to the New Statesman, may be illustrated by an episode when I was lecturing at an American University. A member of the faculty, after describing how a colleague had been forced to resign as a result of what he called “witch hunting,” asked me for my reactions.

“Were you by any chance,” I asked, “working for your government in Germany after the war?” “I was.” “And would you agree with a remark made tomebya high legal authority in your army that the de-Nazification Trials were a classic example of witch hunting?” After a pause the Professor, who had put the question, said, “Yes, I’m afraid I would.”1 “Did you then on your return to America start a campaign against this kind of witch hunting?” Well, no, he hadn’t. Like other progressives he had no objection to witch hunting provided that the witch wasn’t a Communist sympathizer.

SL

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Sir Arnold Lunn

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The nature of “selective indignation,” a phrase which first appeared in a letter of mine to the New Statesman, may be illustrated by an episode when I was lecturing at an American University. A member of the faculty, after describing how a colleague had been forced to resign as a result of what he called “witch hunting,” asked me for my reactions.

“Were you by any chance,” I asked, “working for your government in Germany after the war?” “I was.” “And would you agree with a remark made tomebya high legal authority in your army that the de-Nazification Trials were a classic example of witch hunting?” After a pause the Professor, who had put the question, said, “Yes, I’m afraid I would.”1 “Did you then on your return to America start a campaign against this kind of witch hunting?” Well, no, he hadn’t. Like other progressives he had no objection to witch hunting provided that the witch wasn’t a Communist sympathizer.