The assumption of truth (and its advocacy at all costs) of many of the liberal tenets implied in the election of our new president is unique in my lifetime.

Well no more little green concerns.

The LGF way gets its 15 minutes

Now that Charles and Glenn Beck have butted heads, the resulting exposure will probably serve shed some light on the increasingly arrogant tone over at LGF. I suspect it will only further marginalize the site, which is already (unfairly) labeled as right-wing and extremist.

p.s. meh

My First (and Last) Discussion on LGF

Well, I finally manged to get a coveted membership spot at Litttle Green Footballs last week. I wanted to be able to wade into some of the numerous Intelligent Design discussions that come up there. There are usually one or two a day, so it didn't take long for a story to appear that I thought I could speak to - in this  case, the current kerfuffle over Ben's Stein's withdrawal from a commencement address, or, as stated in the purple prose Charles reserves for Jihadi or ID topics:

Creationist Ben Stein has withdrawn as the commencement speaker at the University of Vermont, after a huge outcry erupted over his support for the pseudo-science promoted by the Discovery Institute, and his ludicrous, highly dishonest anti-evolution film "Expelled."

Well, I waded in to say basically that Ben Stein is a fine man, that the schadenfreude on display at LGF did them a disservice and that the tone and vituperation directed selectively at ID targets was arrogant and overblown. My comments were roundly and universally criticized and even caused Charles himself to jump in. He was just as caustic in discussion as in his posts. I pointed out the (to me) obvious irony of his misrepresentation of the Discovery Institute's "Wedge Document" and how he used it in a way that was similar to the way Anti-Semites used the bogus Protocols of the Elders of Zion - to fabricate "proof" of a group's evil plan of world domination. I thought that drawing a comparison to a group he held in such contempt would give him some insight into the path he had chosen. But anyone who defends ID or its proponents is immediately and irrevocably the enemy in LGF Land and can be safely ignored. Reflectively calling me arrogant, a name caller and, even worse, a "Creationist!", he alternated insults with variants on "I've seen your kind before". As the negative feedback piled up on each of my posts (and the positive feedback multiplied on any post responding to me) Charles repeated a meme I had often heard on the site about being infiltrated by the enemy and promptly closed my account. After my absence the tone returned to its usual navel-gazing and self-congratulation.

LGF is not my site, nor is it really a public forum. Banning me certainly was Charles' right and probably the right thing to do given the kind of site he wants to maintain. I was wrong to try and bring a contrary opinion to such a place as Little Green Footballs - it will not happen again.

In Praise of Hypocrisy

First, a disclaimer: I fully realize hypocrisy is a human failing and is, like narissism or addiction, not a state to aspire to. But in our modern world concepts like shame and morality are considered optional or unessential to daily life. In the political or business arena for example, having a moral compass can even be seen as a liability, limiting one's options. So hurray for the fact that hypocrisy at least presupposes a moral context. Of course, progressive pundits - the classic example is Jon Stewart - get to have it both ways, using charges of hypocrisy against supposedly "moral" public figures as a way to shut them down while insulating themselves from such charges with the defense that they don't adhere to the values in question to begin with.

Out of Step With the Lizardroid Army

As a consumer of conservative blogs, I would be remiss not to be well aware of Little Green Footballs. Charles Johnson's regular exposes of "fauxtography" and other MSM lies and half-truths serve as an invaluable fact-checking resource and epitomizes much of what is good about the blogosphere. But, like anyone who believes his good press and then becomes galvanized against his opponents, the site is also prone to a bit of smugness and a sneering tone towards people he despises (mostly the Kos Kids) and issues he finds especially pertinent. The principal "issue of the heart" on which LGF waxes strident is the defense of Israel and Zionism, a characteristic unfortunately shared by my personal hero James Taranto. Don't get me wrong: I am no defender of Palestinian thuggery and see Israel as a bulwark of (relative) freedom and democracy in a region short on both. But Johnson's arguments are almost comically one-sided. His favorite "issue of the head" which he enjoys pillorying is Intelligent Design. His arguments against ID are shrill and supercilious and show a mind completetly given over to materialism. Like an inversion of his coverage of Israel, Johnson never attributes a single cogent thought to the proponents of ID. Given his background as a Computer Scientist I guess I shouldn't be surprised. But the enjoyment he seems to derive from ridiculing an idea that he constantly demonstrates he knows nothing about is a bit unsettling.

Life and Elections Aren't Fair

It's pretty frustrating to see the mainstream media abandoning any sense of balance or fairness. Any news outlet outside of Fox News, the right-wing blogosphere or conservative talk radio (and that includes almost all traditional news sources) have, in their panic over the recent surge in McCain's popularity gone on a crusade to assure the election of Barack Obama. Whether selectively fact-checking McCain ads, or scurrying to sully Sarah Palin's image, the effect is almost comical. The left wing opinion writers are almost completely untethered. The lack of a moral center that charatcerizes much of the social Progressive movement means that many liberal commentators' worst instincts are going unchecked and the level of meanness is just appalling. The child in me sees the unfairness of the situation and wants to let everyone know, but fortuantely the country doesn't need me to save it. For even though the media and academia have undermined (and in some ways mortally wounded) many of the the core values that served as the foundations of American Democracy and Western Civilization, many Americans sense the bad faith and slander inherent in the left's message.

Addendum: I see Bill Whittle has just addressed the issue much more colorfully and thoroughly than I ever could here

The Richard Rich Army

I was opening the mail a few days ago when a piece of mail caught my eye. It was from NewYork and had no return address. A thick plain white envelope, it appeared to contain newspaper clippings. Upon opening it I found it was an entire page of newsprint advertising a government grant seminar. Affixed to it was a Post-It note with a simple scrawled note: "Ya gotta see this!" The signature was illegible. Most folks would have felt compelled to read the article; I went and Googled the web address provided and saw it featured prominently on RipoffReport and other scam notification sites. I resented having spent my time on it, but I also wondered about the folks who sent this out. I imagined a room full of poor souls scribbling notes and stuffing envelopes for minimum wage (or even worse, for less than minimum wage and a negligible commission based on the number of successful contacts). In what kind of armor, I wondered, does one have to encase one's soul to be able to perform that kind of work (or order others to perform that kind of work and reap most of the profits) day in and day out? Talk radio and late night TV are filled ads for these kinds of schemes. Like pornography, it is one of the uglier sides of an open society.

It made me think of John Hurt's portrayal of Richard Rich in A Man for All Seasons. When shame is banished, man is capable of truly horrible things.

Acura Wants You to Make Someone Very Special Happy

It's hardly a new phenomenon: advertisers co-opt a song to sell a product even though the song's lyrics or original meaning run counter to the product being sold. Heck, I got a chuckle last week when I was at Disney's California Adventure with the kids and heard Randy Newman's "I Love L.A." blaring over the speakers. On the surface it seems to be a snappy little tune extolling the virtues of California's largest city, but a closer listening reveals Newman's true intent as he rattles off a list of some of the ugliest places on planet Earth (that happen to be right here in the Southland).

But it is (to me at least) a sad thing to take a song with a lofty intent and warp it to fit a more "modern" view of existence. Jimmy Durante's 1965 cover of "Make Someone Happy" is a wonderful statement of the then universally understood Judeo-Christian sentiment that living for another is essential for a deeper understanding of life. By the time the agency responsible for creating a commercial for the Acura MDX acquired the tune, however, the song's meaning had been diluted by years of cultural self-absorption. It was then easy to invert its meaning, so that the person you really should do something special for is not some significant other but the more significant you.

Somedays You Just Feel Like

A Tyrannosaurus Rex with a back itch.