Faith writes:
quote:
Too bad leftists don't know how leftist they are, have to claim they're middle of the road.
This isn't just a misconception, it's a deliberate mal-conception. Those of us on the left realize we're on the left.
The difference in perceptions from the left and the right probably have to do with what actually is "middle of the road" at any given time. Since being able to claim the middle ground is rhetorically useful, both sides try to do it. Since each side tends to believe its own claim for the middle ground, that perception clouds a partisan's view of what should properly be called left or right.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the middle ground is constantly shifting. At the time this country was founded, the idea that the people and the press should be free to express any point of view at all, bar none, was radically left-wing. Just forty years ago, the idea that blacks and whites should be able to shop in the same stores and eat at the same restaurants without physical barriers placed between them was radically left-wing. Likewise, at about the same time, the idea that the military could survive without a draft was radically left-wing.
In the history of this country I think the middle ground has done a lot more shifting to the left than to the right, or at least the leftward shifts have become more deeply entrenched. That may be changing. Twenty-five years ago, the idea that the tax code should be reconfigured and the top marginal tax rates on the wealthiest Americans should be kept low was decidedly right-wing but is now mainstream. Opposition to abortion rights is more mainstream than it was a couple decades ago. Also, the right-wing idea of a legally infallible president with powers not subject to any oversight whatsoever is becoming (dangerously, in my view) mainstream.
All of this affects the way the press covers the news. If Americans are not concerned about the president grabbing too much power the "mainstream" press is going to begin covering his use of questionable powers in a matter-of-fact way rather than in an accusatory way. I think we see that happening now.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that we should give up trying to objectively decide whether the mainstream press is leftist or rightist. The best we can do is to recognize where we ourselves sit on the spectrum and try to take in as many points of view as we can. We should never, ever reject hearing (or reading) someone's opinion simply because we know that person's point of view is different from our own. If that's not closed-mindedness then what is?
I think we could turn Ann Coulter's premise on its head and suggest that Fox News is a religion. It has it's own Christ-figure in George Bush, a rightous lord and saviour who is under constant attack from the pharisees at the New York Times and Countdown with Keith Olbermann. It has apostles in Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Cal Thomas and John Gibson. Greta plays the role of the Virgin Mary and Ann Coulter herself gets to gender-bend in the double role of Mary Magdeline and the Apostle Paul.
™ Version 4.2
