Comments Posted By Ben Boychuk
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REPORTS ON THE DEATH OF CULTURE 11 HAVE BEEN GREATLY EXAGGERATED
My collaborator Joel Mathis and I interviewed Conor Friedersdorf last weekend for our weekly podcast (posted here, if you're interested: http://blog.infinitemonkeysblog.com/?q=node/7024). I knew Conor a little bit when he was still a reporter in Southern California. We talked about his work and asked for his assessment of the rise and fall of Culture 11. What was most interesting to me was his explanation of his intellectual journey. He was a right-leaning student at a very left-wing liberal arts college (Pomona, part of the Claremont colleges) and had a natural revulsion to the orthodoxy of the place. That revulsion has stayed with him -- to his great credit, I think. I don't agree with everything he writes, but I enjoy reading him and disagreeing with him.
That said, Rick, there has never been much room for heterodoxy in any mass-movement or organization. Independence of mind is a rare and valuable commodity that does not often mesh well with mainstream anything. It was ever thus.
You're right about that. But aren't there degrees to which dissenters and unorthodox thinkers are tolerated? I think the differences in this regard in conservative circles between the early 80's and today are stark and revealing. The deliberate effort to squelch alternative views, going so far as to refuse to listen, smacks of ignorance to me.
ed.
Comment Posted By Ben Boychuk On 14.01.2010 @ 14:14
PALIN MAINSTREAMS THE BIRTHERS
"'Sarah Palin is a regular person, just like you and me' — what does that mean?"
Nothing. It's a South Park reference.
Comment Posted By Ben Boychuk On 4.12.2009 @ 16:13
Sarah Palin is a regular person, just like you and me. Except she's brave enough to ask questions. See here: http://blog.infinitemonkeysblog.com/?q=node/6889 (If you don't want to read the whole thing, just skip to the bottom. I won't hold it against you.)
Mr. Moran, you mention from time to time how you've lost a great deal of traffic over the past year. For what it's worth, you've gained a regular reader in yours truly. Cheers!
Comment Posted By Ben Boychuk On 4.12.2009 @ 15:38
