Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Washington Post actively sought out "liberals are condescending" piece.

The Washington Post actively sought out the author of this piece of right wing crap.

Well, this is interesting. Remember that "Why are liberals so condescending" piece by Gerard Alexander the Washington Post published last week? Turns out, the author didn't submit the piece the the Post -- the Post sought him out:

Bethesda, Md.: I thought that "Why are Liberals So Condescending" was the most intelligent article I've read in the Post in some time.

Do you think that this is the result of a decision by your editors to be more fair and balanced?

Also, I would appreciate your comments on the "All serious scientists agree that Global Warming is an enormous problem" school of thought. This matter has been positioned in exactly the same condescending manner.

Gerard Alexander: I can only tell you that the Post editor I dealt with searched me out, and were as encouraging as any editor could conceivably be.
I wonder when we'll find out that a Washington Post staffer is actively seeking out a similarly disparaging column about conservatives?
He didn't even have to submit it, they went chasing after him, anxious to tell us all just how patronising left wingers are. And, on-line, he argued that Republicans rarely accuse Democrats of being "un-American."

Chevy Chase, Md.: As a center-left liberal, I found your article very interesting and informative, and I agree with many of your insights. However, I believe an identical article could be written on the condescending nature of political arguments coming from the right. Particularly, you argue that conservatives only accuse liberals of being "systematically mistaken in their worldviews" when attacking a "narrow slice of the left" or when attacking "specific individuals". How does this fit with the conservative portrayal of wine-and-cheese New Englanders or with Sarah Palin's assertions regarding the "real America"? From my perspective, extremists on the right and left are equally guilty of the dismissive behavior you identify. I would be interested to hear you expand further on your views.

Gerard Alexander: The "real America" meme properly matters to many people. Part of me hates to open this conversational can of worms, but I think the notion that conservatives routinely call liberals "un-American" is exaggerated.
That's right, they can accuse liberal newspapers of being "traitorous", or Obama of not respecting the flag enough, but they would never say that Democrats are un-American.

They just constantly imply it.

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