December 08, 2004

FROM a look at the comments found here the folks at the new Left2Right blog have a big job ahead of them. Here are two samples:
I have a Ph.D. in religion. I am a "full-time part-time" college teacher. I also teach philosophy, including ethics, so I know all about arguments about "values," and philosophical presuppositions. I know the left. I have been confronted with its beliefs ever since I studied at University of Chicago (A.B., '77, "Ideas and Methods"). I am willing to read what you have to say, but I want to warn you: it will be very difficult to get to get me to believe that you really want to hear me. I have spent years being insulted, denigrated, and alienated. I have listened to (and read and, best I honestly could, taught) liberal "arguments," astonished that presumably sophisticated people really expect people to follow their "logic." (Like the classic pro-abortion argument that draws an analogy between an unborn child and a world-famous violinist being mysteriously attached to person's body. Duh.)I'm simply saying this: you have huge hurdle to overcome. I'm not convinced you are being honest in your goals. But if you are, it is your burden to show it.
And this:
I have the questionable fortune to live in the bluer-than-blue Seattle area; Jim McDermott, in any reasonable measure a useless excuse of a Congressman, is considered near-divine by my more "enlightened" neighbors. The oh-so-fashionable leftists in my community are oh-so-fond of letting me know how "uninformed" I am because of my "Neanderthal" political opinions. For the record, I read, via the Web, newspapers from all over the world; I'm fond of BOTH the Guardian and the Telegraph. But because I'm somewhere to the right of Che Guevara, I'm damned as a knuckle-dragging, inbred halfwit by people who read NOTHING but the New York Times, and who think the rantings of Paul Krugman or the adolescent whimperings of Maureen Dowd were handed down by God...oops, we're talking fashionable leftists here, better say Gaia...on engraved golden tablets. I'm through trying to dialogue with your side. I'm not going to listen to any more of the condescending, pseudo-intellectual claptrap I've been bombarded with from you "enlightened" types since November 3rd. Congratulations. Your side's succeeded in turning a moderate swing-voter who's voted Democrat frequently into a strong Republican partisan who's determined to do whatever he can to ensure the left is utterly crushed in future elections.
Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack