The Tyranny of the Left Wing

[JerrySeinfeld]

Many times on this forum I have put forth the idea that the left is the new Tyranny of Ideas, jamming their partisan viewpoints down our throats as "conventional wisdom". This is largely helped by the fact that Hollywood types make Jack Layton look like Fidel Castro. But it goes deeper into our "news" media as well.

While lefties adore the idea that they're "fighting the power", that they are "on the outside" "alternative thinkers" (another Hollywood trait), in reality nowadays it appears it is truly right wing thinkers who provide new, alternative viewpoints and challenge convenational thinking.

Think about it: What kind of film would truly put the director's life in danger: a film about gay cowboys? (it was made) or a film about gay Muslims? (would NEVER get made by hollywood) A film about McCarthyism? (was made) or a film questioning global warming? (never would be made by hollywood).

Now, Mark Steyn has done a good job of articluating this concept in a column.

Here is the article.

And here is a good excerpt:

That’s to say, most people are not terribly political. They vote, but, in between votes, they get on with their lives. Knowing the names of junior cabinet ministers, following the ins and outs of provincial budgets, understanding the terms of this or that foreign treaty, all these will always be minority interests. What counts is the broader context in which these events are framed. And in most of the western world the default mode of the culture is well to the left. In my hotel room in Washington the other day, I idly browsed the glossy magazine left on the desk with the complimentary bowl of fruit and room-service menu. It’s basically a society monthly distributed free to hostelries in approved zip codes. And, carelessly skimming the pics of charity galas and book launches, I couldn’t help noticing that all the politicians snapped alongside the celebs were Democrats: Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Terry McAuliffe… There was nothing explicitly party political in the magazine, which was what made its particular bias so noticeable.Well, maybe “noticeable” isn’t the word. After all, we don’t really notice it. We take it for granted that large slabs of public real estate are reserved, broadly, for the soft-left, and often the harder kind. If you go into your average bookstore and look at the display of books on, say, the environment, you would think there was nothing in the least bit contentious about Kyoto or global warming or “climate change”. In other words, what’s in fact a partisan position appears to the casual observer to be entirely non-partisan: hence, the peculiar sleight of hand by which David Suzuki can advance extreme political positions while being portrayed as a universally beloved apolitical figure.

Take another example: This month, the CBC launches a new sitcom, Little Mosque On The Prairie. That’s a hit title, but I kinda wonder if the show itself will be quite as funny. I’m all for “edgy” “dangerous” comedy that “explores” “controversial” territory, and the interaction of Islam and small-town Canada would appear to offer rich and highly topical possibilities. But I wonder if in practice the joke won’t – nine times out of ten – be on the “irrational” fears and woeful ignorance of the white-bread hicks while the Muslims are droll and amusing about the deplorably provincial prejudices. In other words, if the mullahs will forgive me, Muslim is the new gay. A decade or so back, sitcoms began introducing gay characters who get all the sharpest wittiest lines. They’re curiously desexed gays (butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths, never mind anywhere else), just as these will, I’d wager, prove to be curiously deIslamized Muslims. But the intended impact is the same: to make Islam something only uptight squares fret about.utWhy would the CBC decide that Muslims are merely this season’s gay accessory?

Why would a Minneapolis editor with a hot local story (about Muslim problems with airlines) decline to cover it? Why would thousands of newspapers run stories founded on a non-existent source in order to demoralize the home front in a critical war? Because the alternative interpretations – that in Iraq the Americans are the good guys; that those imams were deliberately probing the weaknesses of an airline system too craven to profile; and that Muslims in fact represent a profound challenge to pluralist western societies – are at odds with that broader culture controlled by (to modify Tom Stoppard’s African dictator) relativists.

Try to avoid your ad hom personal thoughts about the author, and make your responses relevant to the points at hand.

[newbie]

"...in reality nowadays it appears it is truly right wing thinkers who provide new, alternative viewpoints and challenge convenational thinking..."

Care to list some of them "new" ideas? Most of my friends on the right don't want change or any other viewpoint presented but their own. They are the ones to me that seem intolerant and narrow-minded when it comes to issues that impact today's society (gay rights/marriage, immigration, religion, etc.).

[blackascoal]

The Tyranny of the Left Wing ????

In the face of all that is known, proved, and documented about the failure of right-wing ideology and politics, the rejection of right-wing politicians by the American people, and republicans now looking left to retsore their credibility .. good luck selling this fool's gold about why anyone should be afraid of the Left.

In case you missed it, tens of thousands of people all across America demonstrated against what they see as tyranny just a couple of days ago. Of course, to be fair, there was a counter demonstration of about 11 people.

According to this Limbaugh-ish right-wing drivel, we should pay no attention to the horrors and failures of the right that we see in the newspapers everyday and only worry aboit what comes out of Hollywood as entertainment. How dare Hollywood make a movie about gays as if gays were real people. How dare Hollywood imply that muslims are like everybody else, not promote Islamophobia, and not tell the truth that every muslim has a bomb strapped to their ass.

Fortunately, this drivel is just there for the giggles and one can read it with humor. It's snake oil that nobody is buying, but given the diminished role of the right and the defection by many of their supporters, I guess this is all they have left.

[jdobbin]

Try to avoid your ad hom personal thoughts about the author, and make your responses relevant to the points at hand.

Glad to see you credit the writer rather than just print it up and take credit for it in the past as you have often done.

[Black Dog]

While lefties adore the idea that they're "fighting the power", that they are "on the outside" "alternative thinkers" (another Hollywood trait), in reality nowadays it appears it is truly right wing thinkers who provide new, alternative viewpoints and challenge convenational thinking.

If by "alternative viewpoints" you mean "bald face lies." Again, Jerry, since you ducke dout on the othe rthread you started with this same thrust: just becuase having an alternative viewpoint and challenge conventional thinking, doesn't obligate anyone to listen to you or take you seriously.

Try to avoid your ad hom personal thoughts about the author, and make your responses relevant to the points at hand.

Is it an "ad hom" to point out that the columnist in question is playing extremely fast and loose with the facts? Okay, I'm being charitable there. Truth is, Mark Steyn is a fucking liar.

Let's go!

Item: Six imams returning from a big conference of imams were removed from a plane at Minneapolis Airport after other passengers grew concerned about loud cries of “Allah akbar!”, the imams reseating themselves in the same configuration as the 9/11 hijackers and demanding seat-belt extenders, even though none was of sufficient girth to need them. Aside from Fox, America’s national media showed little interest in the story. But nor, oddly, did the local media. After complaints, the managing editor of The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Anders Gyllenhaal, replied to at least one reader: “I don’t think the paper dropped this story, but I do think it had run its course… I think this is one of those stories that runs for a couple of days, then subsides.”

Oh snap. Hey: even the bat-shit insane FrontPage Mag called the "flying imams" story one of its Top 10 Overreported Stories of 2006.

Of course, Steyn is not clear on how much interest they were supposed to show in the story. But that's just the kind of razor sharp reporting I've come to expect from old Beardo.

Next:

Item: The Associated Press reported that six Iraqis were burned alive in a mosque. Their source for the story was Iraqi police captain Jamil Hussein. The US military denies the incident took place. So does Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior, which says that there is no-one in the Iraqi police called “Jamil Hussein”. Which is odd, given that the Associated Press has quoted him dozens of times. Since they know him so well, why don’t they just produce him at a press conference? Instead, apart from some swipes at bloggers, the AP’s execs have refused to address the controversy. Thousands of American newspapers have run stories relying on the testimony of a man who does not appear to exist. And what all those stories have in common is that they paint post-Saddam Iraq as a disaster.

Whoopsie doodle. Of course one has to wonder: does Steyn think that if it weren't for the MSM, Iraq would not be wracked with civil strife and daily incidents of violence and brutality? Answer: probably.

Next up:

Item: A couple of months ago, a new book of mine came out. Within days, I was besieged by e-mails from Canadian readers complaining that they’d been unable to find said tome in any…

As was mentioned last time this knucklehead came up here, the allegations of censorship are...how can we put this? The product of a sad persecution complex.

So three swings. Three misses. That's not an unusual at-bat for Marky Mark: the question is never "how many times will he fuck up this week?" but rather "what kind of idiot takes this guy seriously?"

[southerncomfort]

name='JerrySeinfeld' date='Jan 29 2007, 02:29 PM' post='180547']

Many times on this forum I have put forth the idea that the left is the new Tyranny of Ideas, jamming their partisan viewpoints down our throats as "conventional wisdom". This is largely helped by the fact that Hollywood types make Jack Layton look like Fidel Castro. But it goes deeper into our "news" media as well.

While lefties adore the idea that they're "fighting the power", that they are "on the outside" "alternative thinkers" (another Hollywood trait), in reality nowadays it appears it is truly right wing thinkers who provide new, alternative viewpoints and challenge convenational thinking.

It is the left wing which generally want to limit free speech and dictate how we should think and live, it is the left which actually believes parents should not be allowed to teach their children about their values and morals and so forth. Only the State can do that you know.

[jdobbin]

It is the left wing which generally want to limit free speech and dictate how we should think and live, it is the left which actually believes parents should not be allowed to teach their children about their values and morals and so forth. Only the State can do that you know.

Isn't it the right wing that wants control of your body? Abortion and stem cells come to mind here.

[guyser]

It is the left wing which generally want to limit free speech and dictate how we should think and live, it is the left which actually believes parents should not be allowed to teach their children about their values and morals and so forth. Only the State can do that you know.

Isn't it the right wing that wants control of your body? Abortion and stem cells come to mind here.

I wonder wihich PM has the most disdane for , and least respect for, and the least accessibility to the media?

[B. Max]

Many times on this forum I have put forth the idea that the left is the new Tyranny of Ideas, jamming their partisan viewpoints down our throats as "conventional wisdom". This is largely helped by the fact that Hollywood types make Jack Layton look like Fidel Castro. But it goes deeper into our "news" media as well.

A look at the lefts long record of democide can attest to the fact that tyrants never sleep.

http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/NOTE5.HTM

[sharkman]

It is the left wing which generally want to limit free speech and dictate how we should think and live, it is the left which actually believes parents should not be allowed to teach their children about their values and morals and so forth. Only the State can do that you know.

Isn't it the right wing that wants control of your body? Abortion and stem cells come to mind here.

Actually, the left wing manipulates you to have an abortion and wants to harvest the stem cells.

[gc1765]

Actually, the left wing manipulates you to have an abortion and wants to harvest the stem cells.

Who has ever been manipulated into having an abortion or donating stem cells??

[jdobbin]

Actually, the left wing manipulates you to have an abortion and wants to harvest the stem cells.

How does that happen? Any woman who chooses abortion is left wing?

[B. Max]

Isn't it the right wing that wants control of your body? Abortion and stem cells come to mind here.

That body belongs to someone else. If you are talking about your body, and abortion, we would save the baby and give the mother a retro active abortion.

[August1991]

Hmmm.

It seems to me that Steyn's basic point is summed up in these two quotes:

Knowing the names of junior cabinet ministers, following the ins and outs of provincial budgets, understanding the terms of this or that foreign treaty, all these will always be minority interests. What counts is the broader context in which these events are framed. And in most of the western world the default mode of the culture is well to the left.

....

“To the progressive mind, the very concept of ‘the enemy’ is obsolescent: There are no enemies, just friends whose grievances we haven’t yet accommodated.” And because “the progressive mind” controls the public space – the media, the schools, the libraries, the bookstores, the courts – even the British Army has been forced to concede and declare that the concept of “the enemy” is now obsolescent.

Along the same lines, I liked this quote:

In other words, if the mullahs will forgive me, Muslim is the new gay.

It is true that Leftists tend to be "moral relativists". This has been true since the Cold War when some Leftists defended the Soviet Union or Red China by arguing that these regimes were no different (or even better) than the Capitalist West.

I have argued elsewhere that the Left's morality amounts to "defending downtrodden victims against the forces of oppression" - it's an ideology of the underdog.

However one explains the Left's position, there's no doubt the Left defends Mullahs and suicide bombers against Danish cartoonists. When it comes to choosing American soldiers or insurgents, the Left chooses insurgents. For the Left, it's alright to make fun of white male lawyers but it's not acceptable to ridicule black female nurses.

Call it moral relativism or merely moral confusion, Steyn has a point.

As to the tyranny of the Left, I'm more doubtful. I have always been amazed how the Travel Section of a newspaper can depict a country one way (say, Venezuela) and the International News section of the same paper can portray the same country in an entirely different way. Business pages are often very different from news pages. The Wall Street Journal is two newspapers: teh editorial/opinion pages and then the news reports.

All of this is to say that I don't follow the Left as dominant Ideology theory. True, artists are often "left wing". Why? I dunno. Does this matter? Doubt it. In Quebec, a survey of artists and comedians would show overwhelming support for sovereignty. So what?

We do have a new Tyranny of Political Correctness which is a strange mix of various ideas combined with a measure of prudishness. I figure that it's just the latest incarnation of North American puritanism. I wouldn't call Political Correctness a Leftist creation.

I think it's fair to say that if Western Civilization is under threat, there are only two threats: "global warming" or "Islamo-fascism". It's an intellectual exercice to decide why the Left chooses one bogeyman and the Right chooses another.

----

BD, Mark Steyn (like you) is a polemicist. He also (like you) makes funny allusions. I wouldn't call him (nor you) a liar. I happened to buy and read his latest book "America Alone" and he doesn't make stuff up. Steyn also has a point about Canada's reaction to his book. I think it's still in Amazon's top ten but I don't think the G & M has yet to review it.

[jdobbin]

That body belongs to someone else. If you are talking about your body, and abortion, we would save the baby and give the mother a retro active abortion.

What are you talking about?

[gc1765]

...there's no doubt the Left defends Mullahs and suicide bombers against Danish cartoonists.

I've never heard anyone on the left defend suiciding bombing.

[B. Max]

That body belongs to someone else. If you are talking about your body, and abortion, we would save the baby and give the mother a retro active abortion.

What are you talking about?

It's self explanatory.

[jdobbin]

It's self explanatory.

Why don't you spell it out?

[B. Max]

It's self explanatory.

Why don't you spell it out?

I did.

[Remiel]

I imagine you have, gc1765. I know I remember at least one rationalization of suicide bombing as a tactic. Certainly, however, I have never seen anyone defend suicide terrorism.

And B.Max... what the hell are you talking about?

[jdobbin]

I did.

Your ability with the English language needs work.

[B. Max]

I did.

Your ability with the English language needs work.

Your ability to comprehend is batting zero.

[jdobbin]

Your ability to comprehend is batting zero.

My ability to understand is just fine. I just wanted you state flat out what you meant. Anything else is cowardice.

[B. Max]

Your ability to comprehend is batting zero.

My ability to understand is just fine. I just wanted you state flat out what you meant. Anything else is cowardice.

What I meant, I stated quit clearly.

[GostHacked]

It is the left wing which generally want to limit free speech and dictate how we should think and live, it is the left which actually believes parents should not be allowed to teach their children about their values and morals and so forth. Only the State can do that you know.

Isn't it the right wing that wants control of your body? Abortion and stem cells come to mind here.

Actually, the left wing manipulates you to have an abortion and wants to harvest the stem cells.

That's something those on the right always say. I know you don't believe that statement at all. Not to mention the real big kicker in the nuts is... the Left and the Right are ALL PLAYING YOU IDIOTS FOR FOOLS. They are all one in the same. Nothing more. Kind of like a big soap opera for all of us. We watch and react but do little to change anything. Voting for the left is a vote for the right. Vice versa.

It comes down to the choice really, between a gigantic douch, and a turd sandwich.