Infinite MonkeysWhen I was growing up, Sunday was a day when, among other things, we were frequently reminded by our pastor what a blessing it was to live in a free country. Thankfully, my current pastor either is not so deluded or does not feel particularly compelled to ask his congregation to share in that delusion.
In the spirit of my youthful sabbatarian tendency to reflect on this subject, however, I point you to a recent column by conservative-turned-libertarian curmudgeon Joe Sobran. It includes several interesting metaphorical reflections on our so-called "freedom" and the two party system it stagnates in, including this gem: "But isn’t this in the nature of a two-party system when both parties have already failed to give satisfaction? When you’re tired of dysentery, does that mean you should prefer to go back to the nausea that preceded it?"
Posted by RobbL at April 9, 2006 06:22 PMPolitical nihilism seems easy.
Posted by: Monkey Brad at April 10, 2006 10:05 PMMy goodness, how many tired metaphors can you pack into one column? Let's see: I got 1) "on the ropes" (boxing) 2) disease 3) prohibition/vegetarian 4) Brokeback 5) cakewalks 6) creditors 7) Bruegel painting/slaves 8) wolves/sheep
All of this packed into a 700-word, 11 paragraph piece.
I believe the descriptor you were looking for, Robb, was "conservative-reactionary-anti-semite-kook turned wacko-opportunistic-hack."
Posted by: Monkey David at April 10, 2006 11:41 PM>Political nihilism seems easy.
Apparently not quite as easy as living in denial about one's own slavery.
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at April 11, 2006 09:26 AM>conservative-reactionary-anti-semite-kook
Speaking of easy, calling him an anti-semite certainly seems like a cheap shot. Of course, you're not the first one to take it.
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at April 11, 2006 10:33 AMYour link didn't work, but not only am I not the first to take the shot, I won't be the last. That's because it's true, and some who have pointed it out were once Sobran's friends. When you write for a holocaust-denying magazine, and have your stuff reprinted in radical muslim journals, it might be a time for self-reflection. Alas, Sobran has not done that. Yes, the anti-semite label is over-used, but that doesn't mean that there aren't real anti-semites. Reading a large selection of Sobran's work, one can reach no other conclusion than that not only is he skeptical of Zionism (a valid position) but that he also just plain doesn't like Jews.
But if he wants to write such nonsense, he can--it's a free country.
I disagree with your conclusions about the content of his work, so it appears that one CAN reach another conclusion. While he doesn't bother to be sensitive in his rhetoric about the pro-Israel lobby, I've read almost every column for the last couple of years, and have read nothing that was any more racially insensitive than I routinely read from Republicans about Mexicans, Muslims (Arabs in particular), etc. Hell, you read worse every day on Little Green Footballs. Do you have examples to the contrary?
Interestingly, Sobran references some of these guilt-by-association issues in his current column.
Oh, and the link should work now. Superfluous "l", you know...
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at April 12, 2006 11:30 AMSobran is a marginal figure, for many reasons, so I'm not that interested in debating his flaws. I do think that Buckley's original article on anti-Semitism is worth the (long) read, though.
Posted by: Monkey David at April 12, 2006 12:42 PM