tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post1096780010473847821..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Catch of the DayJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-80975765783661760992011-03-07T23:47:07.787-06:002011-03-07T23:47:07.787-06:00Just to add a little more content to my earlier co...Just to add a little more content to my earlier comment:<br /><br />I'd love to have a bunch of smart conservatives around who would detect real problems in our proposals and bring them out to us as part of a good-faith dialogue. That would be good for everybody and result in better public policy. But if right-wing media is all about making Democrats look vicious and stupid so there's no point even talking to them, your smart young student is going to play the zero-sum game of partisan conflict against Democrats rather than the positive-sum game of constructive policy design.Neil Sinhababuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03249327186653397250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-15841246836224188042011-03-07T18:39:52.608-06:002011-03-07T18:39:52.608-06:00Hah, I was that highschool student. My father stee...Hah, I was that highschool student. My father steered me to the conservative media, and the only sources of news I read for years were WS, NRO, and Opinion Journal.<br /><br />But I was in highschool, and couldn't vote for Bush in 2000.<br /><br />By 2004, I was in University, and starting to doubt the orthodoxy. Things like history textbooks had a way of unsettling my views in Isreal. I ended up voting for Kerry, though without conviction.<br /><br />2005 onward, dyed in the wool liberal. What did it to me was never finding WMD in Iraq. It completely undermined the authority of everything I ever read in the conservative media. The misinformation works, but only for a short time.Dannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-64693854336184326722011-03-07T12:12:58.257-06:002011-03-07T12:12:58.257-06:00Actually, if a reader were to take the stories at ...Actually, if a reader were to take the stories at face value, the myth they'd believe in would be the disappearance of an anti-military bias at elite institutions. It isn't clear at all that that myth benefits the GOP more than the Dems.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-84906463936803207782011-03-07T11:25:38.511-06:002011-03-07T11:25:38.511-06:00Dude! The real harm is being done to America!Dude! The real harm is being done to America!Neil Sinhababuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03249327186653397250noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-88704142116715960982011-03-07T10:49:05.096-06:002011-03-07T10:49:05.096-06:00the harm being done here is almost completely to c...<i>the harm being done here is almost completely to conservatives, not liberals</i><br /><br />Hm, that's an interesting way to look at it. In a sense, hypothetical conservative youngsters are being "harmed" because they are being misled by the likes of the Weekly Standard into believing a falsehood: that the military was excluded from on-campus recruiting due to anti-military bias rather than rigorous enforcement of non-discrimination policies. They may go their entire lives without knowing the truth.<br /><br />Another way to look at it is that <i>liberals</i> are the ones being harmed here, because all those misled conservative youngsters are going to vote for, donate to, and work for Republicans, at least in part because they were led to believe a <i>myth</i> about anti-military bias on elite college campuses.<br /><br />And I don't need to tell you that misinformation, if repeated enough, will be accepted as true by a significant portion of the electorate - no matter how absurd (cough*death panels*cough). More misinformation --> more Republican voters, donors, and volunteers --> more GOP office holders --> more right-wing policies enacted.<br /><br />That is to say, this kind of misinformation may harm the <i>intellect</i> of conservatives; but it harms liberals in every other conceivable way.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15913245096162048743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-84741570268590095602011-03-07T09:53:59.742-06:002011-03-07T09:53:59.742-06:00If the hypothetical conservative reader is hearing...If the hypothetical conservative reader is hearing of this for the first time, he might click on the link in the first sentence of the post and read an article that discusses the history of the ban.David Tomlinnoreply@blogger.com