Friday, March 30, 2018

Truer Words

Noah Berlatsky has a modest proposal -- "Bad Ideas Aren't Worth Debating":
"But would it? Would American intellectual life really lose out because we aren’t debating whether women who have abortions should be hanged? What does Williamson’s cruel, bigoted refusal to use Laverne Cox’s proper pronouns add to 'American intellectual life'? Our public discourse ― or for that matter life on earth ― is not enriched but imperiled by ignorant, ideological efforts to cast doubt on the consensus around climate change.
The issue is not left intolerance. The issue is that conservative intellectuals make bad, often nonsensical arguments, and spout opinions that are hateful and harmful on their face."
Among the many pathologies of American culture, one of the most insidious is that any idea, however stupid, misbegotten, or ass-backwards, is worthy of a response in the name of "balance."

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