Posted on 08/20/2007 9:36:18 PM PDT by jazusamo
Democrat wish list:
Defeat in Iraq.
Stock market crash.
Massive hurricane somewhere.
(really, they want that)
The Left is invested in failure because keeping people feeling upset and unfulfilled is the only way they can attract followers.
Good Sowell, as usual. Many thanks for the post.
You’re correct and it’s my pleasure.
bump
Add to your list another terrorist attack in the U.S., so they can blame Bush.
Hiya, Smooth. I’d like to be there when you do and I’ll buy the second round. Dr. Sowell never misses!
Once again, Mr. Sowell's wisdom puts him in a league of his own. Remember these words. They explain so much.
their interest in the poor [is] greatest when the poor can be used as a focus of the left's denunciations of society.Once again, Mr. Sowell's wisdom puts him in a league of his own. Remember these words. They explain so much.
I pulled that quote too, but I think the phrase, "the left's denunciations of society," deserves discussion. IMHO the left is defined by Theodore Roosevelt in his famous dictum,"It is not the critic who counts . . . the credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arenaThe left promotes itself by criticizing anyone who opens himself up to second guessing by taking responsibility and working to a bottom line. That includes not only businessmen but police and the military.But notice who it does not include. First and foremost, it does not include journalists. No, journalists are "objective." And it does not include unionists, plaintiff lawyers, nor teachers/professors (other than the rare conservative, of course). IMHO journalists are the linchpin of leftism, because it is they who apply positive labels to themselves and to those who agree with their attitude toward actually getting in the arena.
The fact that leftists second guess others unmercifully but demand that they themselves be judged not by the results of their concrete actions but by their putative "good intentions" is obviously possible only because they are on the side of "objective" journalism. Note that I did not assert that journalism is in "liberal" politician's pocket - it is the other way around. "Liberal" politicians operate on the premise that getting good PR from journalism is the only thing that matters; they have no other principle worthy of the name.
Hence my tagline:
The idea around which liberalism coheres is that NOTHING actually matters except PR.
BTTT
BTTT
Because in the end, it is not about the poor, it is not about the blacks or minorities, it is only and always about the ability of liberals to gain personal, selfish power to control the lives of others.
Thanks for the ping.
Whatever does not advance the left agenda is “nothing.”
I work in IT at a newspaper. It has been noted on numerous occasions that the reporters have the biggest heads in the building. Many of them really believe that their work is crucial to society (whether they are any good at it or not, apparently).
Once, I expedited setting up an email address (a simple enough thing, but their paperwork was late) and was congratulated for "striking a blow for the first amendment." Seriously.
Once, I expedited setting up an email address and was congratulated for "striking a blow for the first amendment." Seriously.
The First Amendment says nothing about journalism, it speaks of "the press." The difference?
- "The press" includes book and magazine printing as well as newspapers. And,
- the First Amendment doesn't apply to broadcast journalism - if it does, that would be news to everyone who has been arrested for broadcasting without a license.
The reality is that journalists (and fellow travelers whom journalists label "liberals" or "progressives") systematically promote the idea that journalism is identical with the public interest. The rules of journalism - "If it bleeds, it leads," "'Man Bites Dog,' not 'Dog Bites Man,'" and "Always make your deadline," have nothing to do with what is or is not "the public interest," and everything to do with interesting the public, which is a different (and frequently contradictory) matter entirely.
Journalism interesting the public is in the business interest of journalism, so equating "interesting the public" with "the public interest" amounts to identifying the public interest with the business interest of journalism. And that is pretty much the sum of the historical reason for the Spanish American War - to say nothing of sundry other aspects of American history.
BTTT
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