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Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Arguing By Name-Calling

Dennis Prager discusses how so-called liberals now argue by epithets rather than by reason. His example is Harry Reid dismissing the move to make English the national language as racist rather than talking about what would change with such a motion.
Welcome to the thoughtless world of contemporary liberalism. Beginning in the 1960s, liberalism, once the home of many deep thinkers, began to substitute feeling for thought and descended into superficiality.

One-word put-downs of opponents' ideas and motives were substituted for thoughtful rebuttal. Though liberals regard themselves as intellectual -- their views, after all, are those of nearly all university professors -- liberal thought has almost died. Instead of feeling the need to thoughtfully consider an idea, most liberal minds today work on automatic. One-word reactions to most issues are the liberal norm.

This is easy to demonstrate.

Here is a list of terms liberals apply to virtually every idea or action with which they differ:

Racist
Sexist
Homophobic
Islamophobic
Imperialist
Bigoted
Intolerant

And here is the list of one-word descriptions of what liberals are for:

Peace
Fairness
Tolerance
The poor
The disenfranchised
The environment
I'm still waiting for people to talk about what it means to make English the national language means. Is it just a recognition of the obvious or will it have some ramifications for how money is spent for programs in the future? If it is just a statement that we are a country united by a common language then why object to that? Does Harry Reid object to that idea? Whatever. I would like to see more reasoned and clarifying language on both sides of the debate. And throw out the name-calling. It just betrays a lack of arguments to support your position.

posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:18 AM

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HOME Betsy neither necessarily uses, nor endorses, the products advertised on this site. Comments from an AP history and government teacher in Raleigh, NC. e-mail betsynewmark AT gmail.com Site Feed Wikio Your Market Research Here		Tuesday, May 23, 2006 Arguing By Name-Calling Dennis Prager discusses how so-called liberals now argue by epithets rather than by reason. His example is Harry Reid dismissing the move to make English the national language as racist rather than talking about what would change with such a motion. Welcome to the thoughtless world of contemporary liberalism. Beginning in the 1960s, liberalism, once the home of many deep thinkers, began to substitute feeling for thought and descended into superficiality. One-word put-downs of opponents' ideas and motives were substituted for thoughtful rebuttal. Though liberals regard themselves as intellectual -- their views, after all, are those of nearly all university professors -- liberal thought has almost died. Instead of feeling the need to thoughtfully consider an idea, most liberal minds today work on automatic. One-word reactions to most issues are the liberal norm. This is easy to demonstrate. Here is a list of terms liberals apply to virtually every idea or action with which they differ: Racist Sexist Homophobic Islamophobic Imperialist Bigoted Intolerant And here is the list of one-word descriptions of what liberals are for: Peace Fairness Tolerance The poor The disenfranchised The environment I'm still waiting for people to talk about what it means to make English the national language means. Is it just a recognition of the obvious or will it have some ramifications for how money is spent for programs in the future? If it is just a statement that we are a country united by a common language then why object to that? Does Harry Reid object to that idea? Whatever. I would like to see more reasoned and clarifying language on both sides of the debate. And throw out the name-calling. It just betrays a lack of arguments to support your position. posted by Betsy Newmark permalink 6:18 AM \|

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Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Arguing By Name-Calling