Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
A skeptical conservative.
Via James Wolcott, comes news of Heather Mac Donald's battle to reclaim conservatism from the Religious Right's dominance. At Gene Expression, you can find an interesting 10-point Q & A that includes this gem:
I find it depressing that every organ of conservative opinion reflexively cheers on creationism and intelligent design, while delivering snide pot shots at the Enlightenment. Which of the astounding fruits of empiricism would these Enlightenment-bashers dispense with: the conquest of cholera and other infectious diseases, emergency room medicine, jet travel, or the internet, to name just a handful of the millions of human triumphs that we take for granted?
I'm an admitted progressive with liberal/libertarian inclinations. But I deeply respect old-line, rational Conservatives like Mac Donald, who don't turn to appeals to the Sky Daddy to bolster their opinions or politics. These sorts of people have long been my friends and debating fellows, people with whom I could discuss and argue on rational grounds. Take a look at the Q & A, and pine for the loss of these voices.
Jim Downey
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I agree.
Im a liberal in most ways - by US standards, at least - but I do agree that liberals have a great excess of political correctness and a great reluctance to offend anyone, even when some offense is nessicary. But I refuse to join conservatives because for most of them, religious conviction has replaced rational argument - and most conservative policies seem to derive from a desire to return to an idealised vision of the 50's that never existed outside of TV.
Both have their words of power. For conservatives, the magic is in 'family' or 'values' - phrases which will summon a crowd of conservative supporters for any position, most of whome will not even think about what they are supporting. For liberals, 'tolerance' and 'diversity' are the politically-correct keys to power.
I blame the quite rediculous polarisation of US politics - two opposing camps, two political parties. It forces people to not just pick a side, but to then take that side's position on every issue. Because there are only two choices in voting, at the end: republican or democrat.
Always right, all of the time
I just finished reading the original article and the article that Jim posted and found it to be quite good. Before today, I'd never heard of her.
MacDonald is about as rational as Stalin
Her screeds on immigration and crime establish her as a) someone who will fit the facts to her agenda (e.g. she keeps claiming Giuliani brought New York's crime rate down, even though the city's crime rate started falling 3 years before Giuliani was elected), and b) a general-purpose racist. I respect her to the same degree I respect Stalin and Mao. Just because she's an atheist doesn't make her rational.