Wow... I didn't even see the comment underneath the link. Now mildly embarrassed.

I just posted a response to the article.

A better source

It's a worthwhile riff off the Peggy McIntosh piece.

I'm caught by a few of these passages that express a vague hopelessness and the explicit grasping for rationalization in the face of guilt/self-awareness.

...the repetition of the phrase "I congratulate myself..."

"I feel like a bastard every time I see it, but I don't take it off the wall. I did something, briefly, and here's my proof. Also, it reminds me to guilt myself. I congratulate myself on being a good person."

"Need to put the finishing touches on an essay displaying the self-awareness that totally excuses me from being complacent in the system of extortion and slavery that produces most of my toys. As long as you know your ironic t-shirts are produced by child labor, that's cool, right? It's just a worldlier irony."

While the author could be mocking the attitude, my sense is he's processing it as a real problem. I glanced at other parts of his blog and it's a bit more painful to read. Granted it was a small sample, but he relies an bitterness a bit much.