On Sat, Aug 02, 2003 at 09:54:16PM -0700, Gautam Mukunda wrote: > They _are_. But their counterexamples aren't. You, Tom, are so far > gone in your hatred of everyone who disagrees with you that you can't > see that there are people on your side of the fence who are equally > vile as Coulter and Falwell. But unlike Coulter and Falwell, people > like Chomsky, Pollitt, and Michael Moore are lauded as heroes. That's > the difference, and it's why all your rage and venom has about as much > relevance to what's really going in American civic discourse as, well, > Chomsky and Pollitt.
> Now, I think both of them are very important figures, because they > are extremely influential. One is the single most cited living > intellectual. The other edits the most important magazine of th Left. > They influence opinion. But they are also indicators of opinion - and > the fact that people who believe what they believe are so adulated by > a fragment of the political spectrum - and so completely immune from > criticism from _their own side_, as opposed to from the other side, > tells us something really important. Perhaps I've misunderstood your argument, Gauatam, but it seems to me you are quite close to arguing a tautology: those on the Left do not criticize Leftist extremists, and those who don't criticize Leftist extremists are lumped into the Left. I have certainly read and spoken to a number of conservatives who do not criticize Coulter and Falwell, so the same argument could be made for "the Right". As a sidenote, do you consider me part of "the Left"? I do share a number of positions with "the Left", being in favor of a liberal society, but I also think Chomsky is a kook when he writes about politics (I don't have an opinion on Pollitt, I don't think I've ever read anything by Pollitt). Just wondering. -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.net/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
