tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post1399861457839184595..comments2024-03-28T03:24:11.539-04:00Comments on Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish Articles at DanielGreenfield.org : The Closing of the Liberal MindDaniel Greenfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13575285186581875356noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-89739465037146019552013-03-09T00:37:21.408-05:002013-03-09T00:37:21.408-05:00great stuff Daniel especially the explanwtion of p...great stuff Daniel especially the explanwtion of pomo deconstructivism or lets just call it progressive groupthink. My question is...what to do? Move to Utah or Idaho on land with goodwater and soil or boil like frogs enjoying the illusion all will last until after weare gone. Whats your plan...whisper these words of (amazingly fecund profundity) or bug out...?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-61499457921394927932013-03-07T02:25:25.299-05:002013-03-07T02:25:25.299-05:00Thank you for articulating so fluently many of our...Thank you for articulating so fluently many of our thoughts on the liberal mind. <br /><br />So many good comments too. One of the best comments is number 21 by ANNONYMOUS:<br /><br />“This and other similar articles along with their comments are very good. Just not any help. What can be DONE, that is what needs to be said.”<br /><br />Actually, we must accurately define and articulate the problem before we DO anything, so the article is of great value for some of us who were less enlightened and perhaps a refresher for others. Nonetheless, what can we do is now of critical importance and we all seem to be rather lacking at the moment. <br /><br />Comment 16 by ANNONYMOUS (signed ELAINE) offers an excellent hint on the direction I think we need to go and what will happen if we do not:<br /><br />“The mind ought to be focused on the things that matter-God and eternal life.<br />Modern man has simply refused to focus on either and is spinning around with his head loose and finding that he keeps repeating the mistakes of history because he doesn't believe in reality. Reality is much too difficult for modern man because he is used to substituting it for a false reality that insists he is his own god and thus reality is simply that which he chooses.<br />God is the only truth and the only reality. As he has been shoved aside, forgotten, mocked and relegated to mere superstition, man has and will continue to flail about as a fish without water and one day perish.”<br /><br />If there is no absolute right and wrong, then there is no arguing with a liberal beyond history and objective evidence. Both should be very persuasive in their own right but, as Mr. Greenfield points out, the liberal is willfully incapable of understanding. Perhaps since the liberal deals in faith he might be persuaded by faith?<br /><br />Highly doubtful! Their arrogance seem almost impenetrable. <br /><br />In which case we can only fight until the point at which the reset button is pushed and then we start over again. Such is the history of every pre-existent nation. The most painful regrets will be for those who did not fight and do their best. <br /><br /><br />EDWARD CLINE comments: <br /><br />“Yes, the American liberal is dead from the neck up. Which poses the question: Are we being ruled by The Walking Dead?”<br /><br />And I thought all this recent buzz about zombies was just entertainment. OMG!Dave Elletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02863720595390632823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-35767982778662294512013-03-06T18:36:13.536-05:002013-03-06T18:36:13.536-05:00I posted about "scientific deconstructionism&...I posted about "<a href="http://senseofevents.blogspot.com/2009/11/scientific-deconstructionism.html" rel="nofollow">scientific deconstructionism</a>" in 2009. <br /><br />One of the basic tenets of postmodernist linguistic deconstructionism (which I learned how to do in my postgraduate studies at Vanderbilt) is that all text is tainted by bias and that objective points of view are impossible. Hence, the objective of expression is to exercise power. (Formerly the type of expression so designated has been confined, mostly, to those of history, literature and politics. But now we see that even mathematics may be considered biased and subjective.)<br /><br />Hence, there is no such as thing as objective truth and statements are never more than propositional in nature. A statement's truth content is never more than opinion, and opinions are nothing but expressions of power. Therefore, in a basic sense, all speech is power directed.<br /> <br />This is a fundamental world view of the Left and is derived directly from Marxism, as reworked by Leninism. Since Marx held that his communist theory was literally scientific, his economic-historical forecasts were not simply likely, they were certain. To understand and partner with this inevitability was to be "on the right side of history" (which is where that overused cliche comes from). As formulated by Lenin et. al., truth is therefore not statements of objective facts, but assertions that move the communist revolution and its fulfillment closer to reality. "Truth" is therefore pliable and impermanent, the concept of truth being only practical. In practice, all of language became subservient to the dominance of the party, a fact recognized by George Orwell in his novel 1984 and its concept of Newspeak.Donald Sensinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01395472322281027191noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-70325802763802925702013-03-06T15:02:42.174-05:002013-03-06T15:02:42.174-05:00http://youtu.be/4pKMV6e5kEo prime example of what ...http://youtu.be/4pKMV6e5kEo prime example of what Sultan said - the liberals' view of the past just as a source of eccentricities. Oh they are so far above it all!... Will48http://reasonresponsibilityandchoice.blogspot.com/2008/12/anthem.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-9510794017111398192013-03-06T14:44:35.747-05:002013-03-06T14:44:35.747-05:00I have been reading snippets of your commentary on...I have been reading snippets of your commentary on American Digest for a while and finally got around to visiting your site. Keep up the good work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-39242776972837143672013-03-06T14:44:29.399-05:002013-03-06T14:44:29.399-05:00Oops, name was supposed to be pst314.Oops, name was supposed to be pst314.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-21691616052533952962013-03-06T14:43:29.564-05:002013-03-06T14:43:29.564-05:00Daniel Greenfield "Higher ideas have been fra...Daniel Greenfield "Higher ideas have been fragmented. What remain are private realities defended by emotion."<br /><br />Sounds like post-modernism: There is no objective truth, there is only power.<br /><br /><br /> 5/3/13 Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-23094998487476732582013-03-06T13:49:17.078-05:002013-03-06T13:49:17.078-05:00My self-defense to insanity that has worked for al...My self-defense to insanity that has worked for almost 4 decades is the pendulum; it always swings too far before it changes direction. Now, I sometimes wonder if it isn't welded in place, but I have faith.<br />The Leftist true believers that I know are self-blindfolded and deaf to the pain of reality whenever it clashes with the certainty of their beliefs. They worry that they will appear disloyal if they recognize an argument or look on evidence that contradicts their religious belief in a great State that cares. Nothing could be more embarrassing than to be seen as disloyal, even momentarily, by actually considering points of view that are not "loving" and supportive of "the children" and "the poor". Results don't matter; it's all about good intentions. That is all that can be judged. A very smart, University trained friend answered my challenge with "Ask the polar bears." OMG. He's an Electrical Engineer among other technical accomplishments!<br />The current Administration is forcing them to be guides in the Potemkin Village, and it is stressing them to the point that they are beginning to realize it, which they hate.<br />What will happen is that some indignant Liberal columnist or talking head will get FAME for pulling back the curtain, and it will be fashionable to be a rebel, again. Like hating religion, it will be refreshingly cool. Hopefully, they will be medicated enough to endure the initial shock. Some may not survive.<br />DenisDenisOnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-18019598261751067272013-03-06T09:19:33.363-05:002013-03-06T09:19:33.363-05:00This, and other similar articles along with their ...This, and other similar articles along with their comments, are very good. Just not any help. What can be DONE, that is what needs to be said. And, yes, I know I'm not helping since, I too, do not have an answer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-53658656591526265292013-03-06T09:02:36.205-05:002013-03-06T09:02:36.205-05:00I think that Naresh Krishnamoorti's inadverten...I think that Naresh Krishnamoorti's inadvertently illustrates SK's point, which is that modern "liberals" (pace FSY's comment), do not even know what Hegelian dialectic is. Their predecessors in the 50's that SK refers to would have, but the modern liberal has arrived at Fukuyama's "The End of History," and so has no need. <br /><br />To my eyes, modern liberalism resembles most closely certain aspects of the kind of Catholicism Luther rebelled against: Rote repetition of uncontemplated dogmas, the purchase of indulgences, an elite to interpret and decree what is moral and good, etc.Joe Ynotnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-91539411602215912832013-03-06T08:43:02.448-05:002013-03-06T08:43:02.448-05:00Reversing the course of this is train is impossibl...Reversing the course of this is train is impossible. An outstanding analysis, something that I have considered, but nothing I could have broken down and expressed so eloquently.<br /><br />Now the problem is how does someone like me live out my last 25 years in a world that wants to sweep me into a dustbin.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-19104642352934992922013-03-05T23:14:04.462-05:002013-03-05T23:14:04.462-05:00@Rurik,
I think that Sesame Street, The Electric C...@Rurik,<br />I think that Sesame Street, The Electric Company and all of the children’s shows that followed have much to do with the deplorable cognitive state of modern man. The TV producers learned that they could force your attention to remain on the screen by switching the picture every 7-12 seconds, which you will notice is common in all shows these days, quite often attained just by changing camera angle. The effects on an adult mind is to compel you to pay attention, as your mind registers that as movement and a possible threat in the more primitive parts of the brain. The effects on a undeveloped child’s mind are to scramble their ability to pay attention (think ADD/ADHD) in the long term, along with a bevy of other possible negative effects.<br />On top of that, you have an education institution that has no desire to produce critical thinkers, but rather compliant, non-thinking but capable technicians, whether they are to become lawyers, plumbers or fry cooks. Think the Beta’s and below in the Brave New World.<br />On top of that, we have entertainment and distraction constantly yammering at us; Smartphone, IPADS, social media, dance with dogs, online porn, latest hock-ball scores and stats, etc., all of it absolutely meaningless and meant to distract (Daniel has already pretyy well covered the shallow, formulaic nature of most all entertainment these days). I occasionally take college courses even at my advanced age and find it shocking that at the break times, everyone goes outside and immediately starts using the smartphones to facebook, twitter or chat rather than dealing with the real people right there. In this last, maybe I am just old fashioned, but something seems distinctly unhealthy about such conduct.<br />On top of that we are the most hopped up, medicated, sugar-high population on the face of the Earth. Some may drink more alcohol per-capita, but none compare to our use of Prozac/Ritalin and their off-spring. Something like 50% of the American population is on some psychotropic drug.<br />On top of that we have a media/news/government complex that produces crisis after crisis. Has anyone else noticed that not a week goes by without some crisis? Sandy-Newtown-Iran-Sequester-etc. All breathlessly reported as if the expectations are that with each we should get up, run about the room screaming with our hair on fire and then flog ourselves to tears. <br />All combined, this produces a numb, shell-shocked, zombie shuffling populous. For him or her, thinking isn’t just alien, but painful, oh so much more painful than simply sitting down and enjoying another episode of dancing with zombies or see how they are trending on twitter or see if they can vicariously gain some sense of self-worth through the victories of their favorite badminton player.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-90719121049991499772013-03-05T20:32:12.304-05:002013-03-05T20:32:12.304-05:00Good analysis, as always. But I see no reason to b...Good analysis, as always. But I see no reason to believe that the conservative tortoise will win. Your rather convincing writings over the past few months don't give me any reason either. <br />Pisangnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-18793030863160520482013-03-05T18:36:10.389-05:002013-03-05T18:36:10.389-05:00The mind ought to be focused on the things that ma...The mind ought to be focused on the things that matter-God and eternal life.<br /><br />Modern man has simply refused to focus on either and is spinning around with his head loose and finding that he keeps repeating the mistakes of history because he doesn't believe in reality. Reality is much too difficult for modern man because he is used to substituting it for a false reality that insists he is his own god and thus reality is simply that which he chooses.<br /><br />God is the only truth and the only reality. As he has been shoved aside, forgotten, mocked and relegated to mere superstition, man has and will continue to flail about as a fish without water and one day perish.<br /><br />ElaineAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-3826273226552478062013-03-05T17:59:26.168-05:002013-03-05T17:59:26.168-05:00You are the best topical, daily, journalist in Ame...You are the best topical, daily, journalist in America. The quality of the writing, and thinking, is impressive, the fact that you <br />produce it on an daily basis is astounding.<br /><br />EHehnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-28456269552617103762013-03-05T16:39:48.165-05:002013-03-05T16:39:48.165-05:00First Anonymous,
I wonder if the inability to dev...First Anonymous,<br /><br />I wonder if the inability to develop a thought, or even hold a focus for moe than a few moments is maybe a result of too much time being shaped by the rapid fire, "psychedelic" conditioning of Sesame Street from the 1960s on. Earlier kiddie shows were somewhat more leisurly paced, allowing kids to develop concentration and follow a simple plot. Sesame Street trained them to jump from one image to another in ra[pid-fire time. Also inculcateds ADHD.<br />-RurikAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-74843422163570167022013-03-05T16:08:41.282-05:002013-03-05T16:08:41.282-05:00Here are 2 things to pose to a liberal. You're...Here are 2 things to pose to a liberal. You're sure to shake your head at their responses.<br /><br />1. Remember their uproar over the NY pol who dressed up for Purim in blackface. Ask your liberal if they were enraged at Dan Akroyd's train scene in the movie "Trading Places".<br /><br />2. There was an excellent study released a week or two ago establishing the disporportionate effects of gun violence on blacks, all black on black crime. Suggest to your liberal that the gun control solution logically dictates that guns be kept out of the hands of blacks.<br /><br />Have fun.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-20419853594714180652013-03-05T14:14:13.598-05:002013-03-05T14:14:13.598-05:00Wow.
Cogent.
Compelling.
Pogo-revisited-writ-la...Wow.<br /><br />Cogent.<br /><br />Compelling.<br /><br />Pogo-revisited-writ-large per the ersatz-"liberal" community -- We have met the enemy and he is us.<br /><br />And they are sublimely self-unaware of it ever having happened.Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10988194376723420616noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-54983564327096784462013-03-05T12:34:31.282-05:002013-03-05T12:34:31.282-05:00This has been said a million times, but I have to ...This has been said a million times, but I have to repeat it in the context of this article and its title: <br /><br />The word "liberal" has been usurped and distorted to mean the opposite of its genuine connotation. <br /><br />The 1950's liberal still had a strong connection to the original meaning of the word and therefore still saw some value in freedom and the open society, but today's "liberal" knows only that "liberalism" or "progressive ideas" mean total control over everyone and everything.<br /><br />It's hard to see how good can win when language is so distorted. "Liberal" and "Progressive" just sound so good, and "Conservative", sorry to say, sounds so closed-minded and out of touch.<br /><br /><i><br /> The liberal hare races ahead into the post-everything future, never considering that in the long-term, it is the slow conservative tortoise that wins the race. <br /></i><br /><br />We pray.fsynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-82167600072429519882013-03-05T12:31:18.593-05:002013-03-05T12:31:18.593-05:00It really is funny to watch how inflexible and clo...It really is funny to watch how inflexible and closed minded the Left is. Anything coming from outside the Left's bubble is always wrong no matter what. If a Republican claims 2+2=4 they will deny this and tell you "NO! 2+2=Bunny!" Ask them to back it up and they tell you to google it and sure enough, there is some Motherjones or Alternet article explaining how mathamatics is a Conservative racist conspiracy and therefore 2+2 can equal anything your heart desires. <br /><br />Which get's to the point. We on the right spend far too much time argueing with these bubbleheads. As a recent study from Britain's University College London actually proved that Liberals think with the parts of the brain that effect emotion while people on the right tend to use the parts of the brain used for rational thought. AGnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-10204787710426250752013-03-05T10:55:14.842-05:002013-03-05T10:55:14.842-05:00I've observed for a long time that IF liberals...I've observed for a long time that IF liberals/leftists even have minds, very few bother to actually use them.Ping Jockeynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-21802795686459509622013-03-05T09:44:33.650-05:002013-03-05T09:44:33.650-05:00I dimly recall the McCarthy hearings and my parent...I dimly recall the McCarthy hearings and my parents'interest in them. Later, I remember being terrified of 'the bomb' and Communism.<br />I was not alone in the experience. Subsequently in college, I participated in protests against the Viet Nam war. To show solidarity, I also protested and supported the ban on lettuce, and as I recall, grapes, even though I knew nothing about migrant farm workers, having always lived in a city.<br />This was fairly typical behavior for privileged youth in those days.<br />The protests may have been also about was Not becoming our parents, who lived life according to fairly inflexible rules, as we saw it. <br />So we allowed, in fact, encouraged, the pendulem to swing Far Left, all in the name of freedom, which turned out not to be free after all.<br />The irony of all this is that now, when we look in the mirror we see our parents, and when we speak, we hear them, not to mention most of us still miss them every day.<br />If anything has changed, it may be that this kind of naivete used to be limited to inexperienced youth, it has now spread to people we used to rely upon to be grownups.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-65495065021997587342013-03-05T09:04:17.150-05:002013-03-05T09:04:17.150-05:00What a coffin-nailing essay on the epistemology of...What a coffin-nailing essay on the epistemology of the 21st century liberal. <br /><br />I made this comment on another writer's article about liberal journalists, which can also apply to liberal academics, PC scientists, community-organizing lawyers, and progressive politicians, that they all adhere to what is fundamentally a fantasy woven in the Tolkien-esque Middle Earth of Progressivism, with a few facts suffocated in generous dollops of verisimilitude and practiced ambiguity. <br /><br />Yes, the American liberal is dead from the neck up. Which poses the question: Are we being ruled by The Walking Dead? <br />Edward Clinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12160209827969614964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-39295412388802041762013-03-05T06:43:21.601-05:002013-03-05T06:43:21.601-05:00Fortunately for you, Daniel, you write so far over...Fortunately for you, Daniel, you write so far over liberal’s heads you can hide in plain sight, wielding your word sword. Which begs the question: can cool intelligence win the war with hot mess dumbed-down emotion?meemahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09104303592278897991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11368628.post-40495058969040347362013-03-05T04:47:50.720-05:002013-03-05T04:47:50.720-05:00Golly, that is one of the best summations of the L...Golly, that is one of the best summations of the Left I have ever read! Well Done, Sir!SCOTTtheBADGERhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12859188068159799373noreply@blogger.com