is just plain silly. Watching how a democratic polity polices unhealthy and undemocratic speech he
finds that although
[i]t's a free country. . . [he] get queasy with boycotts to target disgusting but free speech.
So if vile, lying, vindictive, morons spread malicious lies and vitriolic bile on their fellow citizens, Sullivan suggest, the solution is to live and let live; after free speech. This is the kind empty-headed silliness that insists that the existence of a natural or man-made right means that there can be no consequences for its exercise. Clearly this is wrong. Worse yet just today Limbaugh, show that his infinite capacity for growth is all about girth, (allegedly) read a book and didn't like its conclusion and so he
complained of about
all of these young, single, white women, overeducated — doesn’t mean intelligent.
If the man isn't show the error of his ways day after day he will continue to poison the well.
Andrew Sullivan is ok with free speech until it has real consequences but that's the purpose of speech is to encourage actions. In rush Limbaugh's case he was trying to incite hatred towards a women he disagreed with, or at let get people to stop listening to her by impugning her character . While people that are asking Limbaugh's sponsors to stop paying for him to attack people are again using speech to encourage an action. Guys like Sullivan and maybe yglesias as well don't seem to understand the purpose of words and ideas outside of how they look in a blog.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that both of them are silly people who parrot consensus nonsense about important matters. And, I would argue, consistently argue in a way that supports Corey Robin's point about conservatives actively opposing change that empowers the 99%.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely silly people, which I think stems at least in part from not understanding the consequences of what they are arguing for or against, in some ways it's a disease of most privileged white males to see everything as a philosophical argument and not understand the effect little things like war can have on the lives of people.
ReplyDeleteI thinks its more that they know but they don't care because the system as it is works for them and that their cluelessness is self imposed.
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