I’m Being Oppressed!
Nothing unites conservatives and defines their collective mindset more than the shared notion that the United States is controlled by a legion of liberals with no self-restraint and a vendetta against conservatives.
This shared worldview at once explains the relative strength of the conservative coalition compared to the loose confederation of individualistic liberals (nothing pulls people together like a common enemy) and demonstrates how vapid contemporary conservatism is as an ideology: conservatives aren’t so much pro-life as they are anti-abortion (why else this flagrant disregard for impoverished children and the eldery, not to mention staunch opposition to healthcare for every citizen?); they aren’t so much in favor of responsible government as they are opposed to big liberal government; even their enthusiasm for guns and bombs is overshadowed by their resolve to fight any sort of gun control.
This newsflash should come as a devestating blow, then, to conservatives: you aren’t oppressed anymore.
Though she draws ridiculous conclusions, Peggy Noonan’s column in today’s Wall Street Journal features an astute observation from a conservative perspective:
Rather than celebrate the apparent victory for conservatives this would indicate (the far-right editorializing and reportage of papers like the Journal and the Washington Times are no longer overshadowed by the mammoth influence of the Times), Noonan of course opts for the negative path. The diminishing influence of the Times on America’s “intellectual climate” can only mean one thing: the paper has gotten worse and is finally reeping what it sowed as seeds of liberalism.
Noonan completely misses the real story, as most pundits (and the White House) have this week. The real story is that the New York Times no longer needs to be singled out by right-wingers as an instrument of their continued oppression. All this inane faux-indignation directed at the Times (while the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and deeply conservative Wall Street Journal all ran with the financial espionage story as well) is a waste of breath. Conservatives no longer need to fear the New York Times. They need only fear one thing: that the end of their oppression, which has been realized, may be the cripling blow to their movement they never expected.
This shared worldview at once explains the relative strength of the conservative coalition compared to the loose confederation of individualistic liberals (nothing pulls people together like a common enemy) and demonstrates how vapid contemporary conservatism is as an ideology: conservatives aren’t so much pro-life as they are anti-abortion (why else this flagrant disregard for impoverished children and the eldery, not to mention staunch opposition to healthcare for every citizen?); they aren’t so much in favor of responsible government as they are opposed to big liberal government; even their enthusiasm for guns and bombs is overshadowed by their resolve to fight any sort of gun control.
This newsflash should come as a devestating blow, then, to conservatives: you aren’t oppressed anymore.
Though she draws ridiculous conclusions, Peggy Noonan’s column in today’s Wall Street Journal features an astute observation from a conservative perspective:
[The New York Times is] not what it was. Once it was such a force that it controlled the intellectual climate. Now it’s just part of it.
Rather than celebrate the apparent victory for conservatives this would indicate (the far-right editorializing and reportage of papers like the Journal and the Washington Times are no longer overshadowed by the mammoth influence of the Times), Noonan of course opts for the negative path. The diminishing influence of the Times on America’s “intellectual climate” can only mean one thing: the paper has gotten worse and is finally reeping what it sowed as seeds of liberalism.
Noonan completely misses the real story, as most pundits (and the White House) have this week. The real story is that the New York Times no longer needs to be singled out by right-wingers as an instrument of their continued oppression. All this inane faux-indignation directed at the Times (while the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and deeply conservative Wall Street Journal all ran with the financial espionage story as well) is a waste of breath. Conservatives no longer need to fear the New York Times. They need only fear one thing: that the end of their oppression, which has been realized, may be the cripling blow to their movement they never expected.
posted by danielklotz at 11:38 AM
1 Comments:
She also, in a moment of lucidity, realizes that the flag amendment is a bad idea, and lists three good reasons why. Just the sort of astute analysis we don't get from the Times--probably because everyone who reads the Times knows that it's sheer folly, and treats it the way Congress should: by ignoring it all together.
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