Sotsio-massohismist Prantsusmaal ja Saksamaal

Anthony de Jasay'lt taas kord üks terane Saksa- ja Prantsusmaa kriitika Socio-Masochism: How Germany and France, the Sick Men of Europe, Torture Themselves:

Bitter political adversaries in the two Sick Men countries are equally eager to preserve the "European social model" from the largely imaginary liberal menace, seemingly quite oblivious to the total failure of the "model" to produce the blessings it is supposed to bring. The detached observer must rub his eyes to believe what he sees. Medieval friars and nuns who wore hairshirts knew what they were doing; they were making a down payment on a place in Heaven and the torture was worth it. But the hairshirt of the "European social model" tortures the societies that were naïve enough to fall for it, without the torture buying them anything beyond false pride. It is a case of socio-masochism where, however, the masochist is not even drawing much perverse enjoyment from the pain it inflicts on himself.