Neo-priggism

The UK Observer profiles the “new puritans” – twenty-something youngsters who build their lives around making “ethical choices” such as eschewing consumption, being ultra-health conscious, avoiding alcohol and tobacco and haranguing their friends and fellow citizens about their “lifestyle choices.”

I can agree with the aims of some of these people to live in less shallow and more environmentally-friendly and healthier ways than some of their peers. But darn it if the ones they profile don’t come off as insufferable and humorless prigs.

Also, it’s hard not to see this as a peculiarly modern and secular version of “works-righteousness” – you justify your existence by making all the correct “ethical” choices, resulting in a pinched and joyless approach to life. Hopefully they’ll grow out of it and moderate their positions before they manage to use the force of law to impose their neo-cromwellian order on the rest of us.