The myth of social determinism

George Will's recent column on the media's interpretation of the Tucson incident is as insightful as it is piercing:

A characteristic of many contemporary minds is susceptibility to the superstition that all behavior can be traced to some diagnosable frame of mind that is a product of promptings from the social environment. From which flows a political doctrine: Given clever social engineering, society and people can be perfected. This supposedly is the path to progress. It actually is the crux of progressivism. And it is why there is a reflex to blame conservatives first.

I have to agree, and not because of the particular issue at hand. This is a general intellectual tendency that has poisoned modern political philosophy.

Read the rest of the article here.