where are the crazy liberals?
On a note related to the last post, I was trying to think of crazy or irresponsible leftists who are still mainstream enough to have a wide audience. These are people respectable liberals should more or less ignore. Don't buy their books, listen to their shows, or link to their writing. Of course you have to do a bit of reading to learn they're not worth your time ...
These are relatively easy for me to think of on the right, maybe because of growing up in Oklahoma (where the politically active people in my extended family watch Fox news and listen to Rush Limbaugh), but also because I really only have liberal friends (and a few libertarians) and they complain about how conservatives all listen to these crazy types. But now I don't have conservative friends who complain about the crazy types liberals listen to.
So on the right, they seem obvious (quite possibly because more conservatives are irredeemable than liberals): Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity. Any more? These people have cable television shows and widely syndicated radio programs. I would not count the John Birch Society, however, because most people haven't heard of them. And I'm not inclined to include Ron Paul, even though he has an avid fan base. He still seems fringe to me, and I think to most folks. I would include Sarah Palin though. Vice-presidential candidates count as mainstream.
But, I ask the liberals in the audience, whom to include on the left? Michael Moore, clearly. I would also include Al Franken. I would not include Noam Chomsky or any communist parties as they're too fringe. Paul Krugman doesn't count because he's smart enough that you pretty much have to listen to what he has to say, even though I think he takes partisan shortcuts a little too often. I think I would include Keith Olbermann, but I'm not sure my friends would agree with that one. But the man froths at the mouth and blusters as much as Limbaugh. I don't think MSNBC is quite as bad in general as Fox News, but is that just because I like liberals better than conservatives? Does Air America count as mainstream enough? I don't know how many people actually listen to that, and I haven't listened to it enough to know if it's crazy all the time.
Another point I would suggest is that a lot of crazy talk is consumed more for entertainment value than for any kind of intellectual sustenance. The Economist's Lexington columnist, a respectable voice, mentioned on his blog that he has a soft spot for Rush Limbaugh because he thinks he's funny. Fair enough. I've talked to quite a few liberals who watch Michael Moore movies, knowing full well the ample amount of salt with which they should take him. It's comfortingly masturbatory. I do it too: it was fun watching Bill Maher's Religulous. And I still find comfort in my favorite parts of Atlas Shrugged. But I haven't recommended Religulous to anyone, and I support putting warning stickers on Atlas Shrugged, suggesting it is best read as a kind of mythology.
So, who did I miss?
These are relatively easy for me to think of on the right, maybe because of growing up in Oklahoma (where the politically active people in my extended family watch Fox news and listen to Rush Limbaugh), but also because I really only have liberal friends (and a few libertarians) and they complain about how conservatives all listen to these crazy types. But now I don't have conservative friends who complain about the crazy types liberals listen to.
So on the right, they seem obvious (quite possibly because more conservatives are irredeemable than liberals): Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity. Any more? These people have cable television shows and widely syndicated radio programs. I would not count the John Birch Society, however, because most people haven't heard of them. And I'm not inclined to include Ron Paul, even though he has an avid fan base. He still seems fringe to me, and I think to most folks. I would include Sarah Palin though. Vice-presidential candidates count as mainstream.
But, I ask the liberals in the audience, whom to include on the left? Michael Moore, clearly. I would also include Al Franken. I would not include Noam Chomsky or any communist parties as they're too fringe. Paul Krugman doesn't count because he's smart enough that you pretty much have to listen to what he has to say, even though I think he takes partisan shortcuts a little too often. I think I would include Keith Olbermann, but I'm not sure my friends would agree with that one. But the man froths at the mouth and blusters as much as Limbaugh. I don't think MSNBC is quite as bad in general as Fox News, but is that just because I like liberals better than conservatives? Does Air America count as mainstream enough? I don't know how many people actually listen to that, and I haven't listened to it enough to know if it's crazy all the time.
Another point I would suggest is that a lot of crazy talk is consumed more for entertainment value than for any kind of intellectual sustenance. The Economist's Lexington columnist, a respectable voice, mentioned on his blog that he has a soft spot for Rush Limbaugh because he thinks he's funny. Fair enough. I've talked to quite a few liberals who watch Michael Moore movies, knowing full well the ample amount of salt with which they should take him. It's comfortingly masturbatory. I do it too: it was fun watching Bill Maher's Religulous. And I still find comfort in my favorite parts of Atlas Shrugged. But I haven't recommended Religulous to anyone, and I support putting warning stickers on Atlas Shrugged, suggesting it is best read as a kind of mythology.
So, who did I miss?