If contemporary American liberalism has any High Priests, foremost among them would have to be Jon Stewart. Arguably, he’s the functional equivalent of a supreme pontiff. So much of contemporary American liberalism hinges on aesthetic presentation — the ever-present need to convey that you and your peers “get it” — and Stewart pioneered the perfect public sensibility tailored to this ambition. For years, cultural liberals’ sense of savviness and ironic detachment, coupled with an underlying pretension to earnestness, was cultivated and affirmed by Stewart. His method of communicating political information on
The left-liberal media/entertainment/big tech/government monolith is deserving of mockery, and the Covid-19 origins story is emblematic. I give some credit to Stewart for having the sense to not "weigh in on every fleeting micro-scandal" during the Trump presidency. Not many within the left-liberal monolith has such good sense.
What we learned from these people is that science should be trusted unless it is referenced by Trump. Since Trump speculated that the virus might have come from the Wuhan lab, the science must be denied, and it must be insisted that the scientific truth has been debunked!
In addition to recent disclosures that Dr. Fauci knew early last year that the virus showed signs of lab manipulation yet continually lied to the public on this issue, a substantial group of scientists have now admitted they refrained from publicly acknowledging the evidence that the virus may have been engineered in the Wuhan lab. Alina Chan was one of those scientists. This is what she now says:
For Stewart's part, at least he still has ounce of self-awareness and honesty even if his intervention comes far too late. The same cannot be said of Colbert, who has shown himself to be the worst strain of self-righteous establishment hack imaginable and a third rate comedian. In my view, both of them deserve a blame for the current predicament America (and Western society more generally) finds itself in.
During the glory days of the Daily Show and The Colbert Report, their brand of scathing mockery repeated over many years infused such a massive sense of moral and intellectual superiority into its politically liberal audience, most of them lost the ability to think or even argue basic points. The idea that you should even lower yourself to debating contemptible right wingers - who are clearly wrong about everything and morally repugnant - became laughable. Much better to wink and nod and repeat trite slogans about reality's liberal bias, as if this is actually an answer to anyone who questions the prevailing liberal dogma of the day.
Currently we see a more extreme version of this smug sense of superiority, hardened opinions about the evil moral character of the opposition, and the strongest possible aversion to political dialogue. Why argue when you can just call your opponent a racist or a transphobe? Why allow dissenting views to be aired when they can simply be censored as misinformation of spreading hate? The left has succumbed to a lazy, illiberal mode of behavior, and I don't think Jon Stewart poking his head out to scold them every few years is going to change the course.
"This volatility within liberalism is often fodder for mockery. It can make adherents look and sound incoherent. But malleability is part of liberalism’s strength; after all, conservatives are always complaining that liberals control most every institution. To what do they attribute this...? "
You are dead right. Absolutely, painfully right. Or as we on the Right put it: "let's point out that liberals are the real hypocrites just one more time. This time it's gonna stick!" No, dummy - the hypocrisy is the power. If you have to play by rules you're not powerful. If you have to adhere to objective reality, or even precedent, you're not powerful. If instead the wet market has always been an eye-rolling joke and the super serious lab leak theory has always been taken seriously - well, that's power.
That's a nice way to spin their amazing ability to shift the "consensus" opinion (all other opinions of course being made literally illegal) on a moment's notice.
Bill Maher is doing something similar. Wetted fingers sticking up everywhere. Watch for “birthing people” to disappear from lefty discourse. It’s all about preserving the House.
If Trump had advocated for the opposite of what he wanted throughout his term, it would have been the biggest psyop in world history. Being able to do something like that is like a superpower.
I am not saying it's a bad thing, but it's incredibly interesting that the shooter of Babbitt hasn't even been named. And apparently never will be. I'm guessing everyone in DC knows the name, but it won't be reported -- or leaked. Again, I'm okay with that, and I don't fault the shooter (based on what I saw) but, man, talk about two different sets of rules.
"Ashli Babbitt...shot dead at point-blank range by an agent of the state...might’ve even been trespassing at the time..." Reminds me of an old song, now completely obsolete:
"And the sign said
"Anybody caught trespassin'
Will be shot on sight"
So I jumped on the fence and I yelled at the house
"Hey! What gives you the right
To put up a fence to keep me out...."
No mention of troops but to the credit of liberal elites, there is now a sign, a fence and troops around Washington DC to keep trespassers out and a firewall of censorship to keep internet trespassers out.
We need Ross Douthat on substack. His older sensibility is necessary, he holds too a 2000 year old project. He describes his religious faith as deriving from his belief that Catholicism is the most complete and comprehensive explanation of what it is to be human. Here is what he would say:
Churches empty we face the void alone and in desperation to find meaning in and beyond our frenetic everyday lives we (like all people for all time) find solace in religious thinking, but God is unfashionable so pop culture pieties about fairness and inclusivity offer a ready made sense of deliciously tribal belonging, no fuss no muss no hard work just the occasional about face, retreat and retrenchment (best not spoken about). Christ’s teachings replaced by douche baggery; religious thought replace by religiosity.
Who am I to speak for Ross Douthat? Answer - nobody - please excuse my trespass.
The whole thing is a facade. Masks, the definition of herd immunity, 'social distancing' ... hell, even covid itself. James Delingpole looked into the total number of deaths in the UK in 2020 ... it barely registered any difference. I think it was 2009 when they had more deaths overall. How can 2020 be the year of a pandemic then?
But hey, only QAnon extreme right wingers worthy of death even consider such things.
Great article Michael. I look forward to your writings.
The left-liberal media/entertainment/big tech/government monolith is deserving of mockery, and the Covid-19 origins story is emblematic. I give some credit to Stewart for having the sense to not "weigh in on every fleeting micro-scandal" during the Trump presidency. Not many within the left-liberal monolith has such good sense.
What we learned from these people is that science should be trusted unless it is referenced by Trump. Since Trump speculated that the virus might have come from the Wuhan lab, the science must be denied, and it must be insisted that the scientific truth has been debunked!
In addition to recent disclosures that Dr. Fauci knew early last year that the virus showed signs of lab manipulation yet continually lied to the public on this issue, a substantial group of scientists have now admitted they refrained from publicly acknowledging the evidence that the virus may have been engineered in the Wuhan lab. Alina Chan was one of those scientists. This is what she now says:
"... it was scarier to be associated with Trump and to become a tool for racists, so people didn't want to publicly call for an investigation into lab origins." https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/lab-leak-theory-science-scientists-rcna1191
The next time someone tells me I should trust the science, my response will be "okay, but can I trust the scientists?"
For Stewart's part, at least he still has ounce of self-awareness and honesty even if his intervention comes far too late. The same cannot be said of Colbert, who has shown himself to be the worst strain of self-righteous establishment hack imaginable and a third rate comedian. In my view, both of them deserve a blame for the current predicament America (and Western society more generally) finds itself in.
During the glory days of the Daily Show and The Colbert Report, their brand of scathing mockery repeated over many years infused such a massive sense of moral and intellectual superiority into its politically liberal audience, most of them lost the ability to think or even argue basic points. The idea that you should even lower yourself to debating contemptible right wingers - who are clearly wrong about everything and morally repugnant - became laughable. Much better to wink and nod and repeat trite slogans about reality's liberal bias, as if this is actually an answer to anyone who questions the prevailing liberal dogma of the day.
Currently we see a more extreme version of this smug sense of superiority, hardened opinions about the evil moral character of the opposition, and the strongest possible aversion to political dialogue. Why argue when you can just call your opponent a racist or a transphobe? Why allow dissenting views to be aired when they can simply be censored as misinformation of spreading hate? The left has succumbed to a lazy, illiberal mode of behavior, and I don't think Jon Stewart poking his head out to scold them every few years is going to change the course.
"This volatility within liberalism is often fodder for mockery. It can make adherents look and sound incoherent. But malleability is part of liberalism’s strength; after all, conservatives are always complaining that liberals control most every institution. To what do they attribute this...? "
You are dead right. Absolutely, painfully right. Or as we on the Right put it: "let's point out that liberals are the real hypocrites just one more time. This time it's gonna stick!" No, dummy - the hypocrisy is the power. If you have to play by rules you're not powerful. If you have to adhere to objective reality, or even precedent, you're not powerful. If instead the wet market has always been an eye-rolling joke and the super serious lab leak theory has always been taken seriously - well, that's power.
Can I just say how I much I love your writing style?
That's a nice way to spin their amazing ability to shift the "consensus" opinion (all other opinions of course being made literally illegal) on a moment's notice.
Bill Maher is doing something similar. Wetted fingers sticking up everywhere. Watch for “birthing people” to disappear from lefty discourse. It’s all about preserving the House.
If Trump had advocated for the opposite of what he wanted throughout his term, it would have been the biggest psyop in world history. Being able to do something like that is like a superpower.
Funny and true.
I am not saying it's a bad thing, but it's incredibly interesting that the shooter of Babbitt hasn't even been named. And apparently never will be. I'm guessing everyone in DC knows the name, but it won't be reported -- or leaked. Again, I'm okay with that, and I don't fault the shooter (based on what I saw) but, man, talk about two different sets of rules.
"Ashli Babbitt...shot dead at point-blank range by an agent of the state...might’ve even been trespassing at the time..." Reminds me of an old song, now completely obsolete:
"And the sign said
"Anybody caught trespassin'
Will be shot on sight"
So I jumped on the fence and I yelled at the house
"Hey! What gives you the right
To put up a fence to keep me out...."
No mention of troops but to the credit of liberal elites, there is now a sign, a fence and troops around Washington DC to keep trespassers out and a firewall of censorship to keep internet trespassers out.
Covid-19: Artificially produced, yes.
But: a leak, or an intentional attack?
https://www.unz.com/mwhitney/the-covid-bioweapon-made-in-the-usa-aimed-at-china/
We need Ross Douthat on substack. His older sensibility is necessary, he holds too a 2000 year old project. He describes his religious faith as deriving from his belief that Catholicism is the most complete and comprehensive explanation of what it is to be human. Here is what he would say:
Churches empty we face the void alone and in desperation to find meaning in and beyond our frenetic everyday lives we (like all people for all time) find solace in religious thinking, but God is unfashionable so pop culture pieties about fairness and inclusivity offer a ready made sense of deliciously tribal belonging, no fuss no muss no hard work just the occasional about face, retreat and retrenchment (best not spoken about). Christ’s teachings replaced by douche baggery; religious thought replace by religiosity.
Who am I to speak for Ross Douthat? Answer - nobody - please excuse my trespass.
The whole thing is a facade. Masks, the definition of herd immunity, 'social distancing' ... hell, even covid itself. James Delingpole looked into the total number of deaths in the UK in 2020 ... it barely registered any difference. I think it was 2009 when they had more deaths overall. How can 2020 be the year of a pandemic then?
But hey, only QAnon extreme right wingers worthy of death even consider such things.
Great article Michael. I look forward to your writings.