I'm a judge in the America's Future Foundation college blogging contest, which will award $10,000 to the best student blog. Nominations open today, and close on December 31st. I heartily encourage any readers with conservative or libertarian college blogs to submit theirs.
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17 Sep 2007 10:13 am
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Comments (48)
alex -- I read that and I can only say 'Wow'.
'Intolerant' is a real word with a real meaning. And it doesn't mean 'right wing', 'Republican' or 'conservative'. Its meaning is a lot closer to, hmmm. . . let's see . . . I know!
I simply read it and think: "well, that's dumb and hateful and they shouldn't think that."
And you broke my irony-meter. I'll need some $$ to get it fixed.
Sheesh, I'm pretty sure Jonah Goldberg, Jonathan Adler, and Mary Katherine Ham have never called anyone a "stupid [missing comma sic] intolerant twat" on their blogs. Radley Balko may have, but if he did, it was a cop.
You think you don't have "deep-set value differences" with real libertarians? Srsly? If Megan (who is a political moderate, about half an inch left of center, with more of a libertarian analytical approach than deep-set libertarian values) sets you off this much, you could not handle a hardcore libertarian. You're better off where you are, thinking that your side would bring unicorns and rainbows to the world if only the other side weren't so evil and tricky yet stupid.
Right. Well, that's my point. If some issue is based around logic and intellectual matters than I'm open to it. But if the issue is based on non-intellectual "values"(not that my positions are not based on values, but one of my values is rationalism and empiricism).
People harping on about the gay lobby or abortion isn't interesting to me (and is likely a twat: just as you percieve me to be a twat). But if another person concieves of a different mechanism for ameloirating poverty or fighting crime or whatever, than I'm open to reading it. The twat is merely wasting my time (just as, if I were to have a blog, I would be wasting his time whenever I went on about my more twatty positions. You know, like we just SHOULD redistribute wealth in order to help the less fortunate).
So non-twat conservative blogger suggestions?
And, might I ask, how is it intolerant to disagree with someone else's position? Intolerant would be me trying to supress that position not just roll my eyes and ignore it.
Must we be tolerant of bigotry and stupidity? That seems like the kind of position that would drive most libertarians batty.
Such a torturous first comment...you obviously didn't get what you needed this weekend. May I suggest a nice restful weekend at a spa with hot-rock massage, a few sessions of Shiatsu and a fine colon-cleaning? After that, you can begin to focus just a wee bit better, methinks.
Kwyjibo, you have the dear, Ms. Megan nailed. You may as well be that lepidopterist that shows this very rare species not often found, the Progressivi Libertiriani Papillionida, that often wishes to flutter to the left, to follow the softness of Obama's Light, yet, at the last second, an electrical impulse from the misnamed Left-Brain, surges, and the flutter back to the Right becomes uncontrollable, until her yearning gaze is turned again to Michelle's Oft-Correct Man, who could be 2008 Man of the Year (which, with 2004's selection, shows its not always an accurate thing).
Alex, dude, are you trolling this thread as a fake-liberal, or was that actually intended as a serious comment?
Ross Douthat is not a libertarian by any stretch of the imagination. His politics run more to European-style Christian Democracy than to American-style "WAR IS TEH AWESOME" neoconservatism, but he's pretty far to the right of center of cultural issues, especially abortion. The same could be said for most of the guys at the American Scene. Larison is so paleoconservative it hurts. But he's a smart guy, and he's usually worth reading.
Now, if you're wondering why you can't seem to find an intelligent, thoughtful blog that still supports the Bush Administration, you've basically answered your own question. But there are quite a few smart conservative bloggers out there, including most of the people you just identified as libertarians.
Kwyjibo says about Megan..."who is a political moderate, about half an inch left of center, with more of a libertarian analytical approach than deep-set libertarian values"
Add in a dose of environmental awareness, and wow, such a description really describes me as well. But this "libertarian analytical approach" also leads me to hold my nose and read Andrew Sullivan's links to The Corner over on the National Review site. Nothing like a whiff of Ponnuru or Kathryn Jean Lopez to remind me of why my "libertarian analytical approach" continues to help me avoid being a "twat". I hope.
Am I the only one a bit surprised by the copious use of the word "twat" in the comments? I hope you mean twit, because twat is another vulgar synonym for the dreaded c-word.
Am I wrong, or is the 4 letter word being used here OK for public use now? I mean, I was still under the impression that it's not OK.
I mean, it's still a derogatory term for female genitalia, right? Or is it like a-s or b--ch, that's been brought into public discourse. I just wanna know if it's in my "accessible" verbal toolbox. Did Alex really mean "twit"?
P.S. I see in preview Christina is asking the same question.
I'm a judge in the America's Future Foundation college blogging contest,
Since you are a judge, presumably you have the pull to get them to update their link, which is currently to your old blog.
This will be an interesting exercise in what is blogging. Among the judges, I don't consider Jonah Goldberg, Mary Katherine Ham, or Robert Bluey to be "bloggers". They are political writers, but "bloggers", I don't think so.
Is the contest only open to undergrads?
I'm currently working on my PhD.
No joke.
What's an 'eye' or an 'A' between friends, or blogger/discoursers?
I'd go with the 'i', of course, but it certainly did activate the guffaw-mode a bit today.
By the way, defining a blog is a difficult proposition. Who's to say you can't be labeled a 'blogger' if you write about politics, or you write about economics, or you write about your Little Green Machine with that, oh so smooth, satiny finish, that hums like a Hummer? Or are you going to become (here it comes!!) intolerant because it's not really that they write about a specific topic, but that they don't really espouse your philosophical brand, so, obviously L.S.M.F.T. has much more cachet than little green packs floating down a pristine, green(?) stream.
I'd urge the 'judges' to open those requirements wide, and let 'er roar!!!
Oh, I take college courses almost continuously. Could I put forward my rather obscure blog, into the competition? Or are we really trying to encourage the young here, for future blogships, to go where no (hu)Man has gone before?
This contest is wingnut welfare for college students.
The Ayn Rand Institute already covers wingnut welfare for high schoolers.
The Atlantic already endows three wingnut welfare scholarships for undeserving bloggers.
All Ayn Rand gave anyone was the clap.
Rand should have added the Title: "Civility, the unknown Ideal". But, then, again, that would have been redundant.
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So... I was going to complain that your were calling specifically for conservative or libertarian blogs but then I realized that I don't really know of any readable and non-enraging straight conservative blogs.
Is there such a blog? I already read several libertarian blogs (i.e. Megan, Ross, Tyler, those American scene people).
Are there any bright conservative ones that aren't really just libertarian blogs in disguise? And that aren't stupid intolerant twats?
Let me know, dears!
Okay. Here's another question:
If one is a left of center liberal (as I am) and one reads lots of libertarian blogs (as I do) is there any real reason to read a straight-up conservative blog? I mean, after all, I get all the free market stuff without the dreary intolerant stuff that accompanies the adherance to traditionalism found in conservativism.
I guess I'm asking: are there real insights that I can find in a conservative blog that I can't also get in a more palatable form in a libertarian blog? Any difference between me and a liberatrain blog is likelier to be an intellectual one; any difference between me and a conservative blog is likely to be based on deep-set value differences.
How useful is it to read another's deep-set value issue? I simply read it and think: "well, that's dumb and hateful and they shouldn't think that." Is there any use in reading such a blog when all it is going to do is irritate me? Other than just "knowing your enemy?"
So: Is a libertarian blog a better substitute for a squeamish liberal than a conservative blog? Or, if not, what's a good actual conservative blog (and not just libertarian)? Okay. Back to work...
Posted by alex | September 17, 2007 10:46 AM