{"id":3004,"date":"2020-07-16T15:33:41","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T15:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2020\/07\/16\/mona-charen-and-political-equivalentism\/"},"modified":"2020-07-16T15:33:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T15:33:41","slug":"mona-charen-and-political-equivalentism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2020\/07\/16\/mona-charen-and-political-equivalentism\/","title":{"rendered":"Mona Charen, Bari Weiss, and Political Equivalentism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are we engaged in a truth-seeking debate with our political opponents, or are these opponents enemies<\/em> with whom we are at war? For some time now, I have been heading in the latter direction. <\/span>  Von Clausewitz<\/a> held that war is politics pursued by other means. But what could be called the Converse Clausewitz principle <\/em>holds equally: politics is war pursued by other means. See Politics as Polemics<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that we conservatives are at war with the Left, what are we to say about those who hover above the fray and refuse to take sides<\/a>? They are the political equivalentists, or near-equivalentists, who strive after an objective, non-partisan view and find fault with both sides.  What are are we to say about that sweet old lady, Mona Charen<\/a>, whom I have followed sympathetically for years?<\/span><\/p>\n

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The story of Bari Weiss\u2019s tense parting with the <\/span>Times<\/span><\/em> will doubtless provide several days\u2019 worth of fodder for the right. Weiss will become, for a while, a right-wing pin-up\u2014symbol of the dangerous cancel culture that Democrats want to impose on the whole nation. Andrew Sullivan announced on the same day that he is leaving <\/span>New York<\/span><\/em> magazine. Coming on the heels of other <\/span>prominent<\/span><\/a> departures<\/span><\/a> from progressive standard bearers, the scent of purges is in the air.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But the right has no credibility on this. If the left is woke, the right is bespoke\u2014it has become tailored around one person. Look at conservative publications and search for Trump critics. They are thin on the ground. <\/span>National Review<\/span><\/em> parted ways with David French and Jonah Goldberg. The <\/span>Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/em> lost Bret Stephens and Bari Weiss. <\/span>Fox News <\/span><\/em>staffed up with fulsome Trump <\/span>enthusiasts<\/span><\/a>, but dispensed with George Will\u2019s services.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This narrowing of the American mind is making everyone dumber and nastier. Debate is practically dead. What Bari Weiss stands for is the individual conscience attempting to evaluate issues fairly. She stands for dispassionate analysis in a world that increasingly favors zealotry and intolerance. That\u2019s why her fate matters.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Charen is as naive as Sam Harris<\/a>. She's a silly goose of a Never-Trumper living in the past.  Yes, my dear, debate is dead.  But why is that? It is because debate is impossible with those who, out of contempt for them, refuse to satisfy the elementary requirements of debate which include belief in the existence of truth and respect for logic and language. <\/span><\/p>\n

It is utter folly to suppose that there is moral-political equivalence between Right and Left.  People like Charen, the bootless Max Boot, the vapid Bill Kristol, the foolish David French<\/a>, the effete George Will and plenty of others have allowed their mindless hatred of gate-crasher Trump the man and his style to unhinge them.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the end, Mona Charen, with all her good intentions is a chump, a useful idiot for them, a useless<\/em> idiot for us.  Her conciliatory attitude won't save her from cancellation. 
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Mona Charen <\/a><\/span><\/h4>\n
Mona Charen is a nationally syndicated columnist, a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a contributor to <\/span><\/em>The Bulwark, <\/span>and host of <\/span><\/em>The Bulwark\u2019s <\/span>Beg to Differ <\/span><\/em>podcast<\/span>.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Are we engaged in a truth-seeking debate with our political opponents, or are these opponents enemies with whom we are at war? For some time now, I have been heading in the latter direction.   Von Clausewitz held that war is politics pursued by other means. But what could be called the Converse Clausewitz principle holds … Continue reading “Mona Charen, Bari Weiss, and Political Equivalentism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[431],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-political-equivalentism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}