sirenianshores

The liberal end of the blogosphere is up in arms over this post by Joe Klein, a Time magazine columnist and mainstream journalist turned blogger. In his post on Time’s blog, Swampland, Klein makes a number of valid and not so valid criticisms of the extreme end of left-wing ideology:

How to identify a left-wing extremist:

–believes the United States is a fundamentally negative force in the world.

–believes that American imperialism is the primary cause of Islamic radicalism.

–believes that the decision to go to war in Iraq was not an individual case of monumental stupidity, but a consequence of America’s fundamental imperialistic nature.

–tends to blame America for the failures of others—i.e. the failure of our NATO allies to fulfill their responsibilities in Afghanistan.

–doesn’t believe that capitalism, carefully regulated and progressively taxed, is the best liberal idea in human history.

–believes American society is fundamentally unfair (as opposed to having unfair aspects that need improvement).

–believes that eternal problems like crime and poverty are the primarily the fault of society.

–believes that America isn’t really a democracy.

–believes that corporations are fundamentally evil.

–believes in a corporate conspiracy that controls the world.

–is intolerant of good ideas when they come from conservative sources.

–dismissively mocks people of faith, especially those who are opposed to abortion and gay marriage.

–regularly uses harsh, vulgar, intolerant language to attack moderates or conservatives.

Naturally I don’t agree with some of the points he made. The fact that US politics are so skewed towards the right means that some of the political views he outlines above would be extreme by US standards, but quite uncontroversial in Europe or pretty much any place outside of the US. That being said however, I do think they are interesting and thought provoking points nonetheless

Mainstream media Vs the blogosphere
Despite all the hype from the blogosphere, I think blogs still have a long way to go before the medium can realistically compete with the mainstream media. The rivalry between so-called the mainstream media and the blogosphere has only intensified now that mainstream journalists have turned their hands to blogging and dared to criticise the blogosphere. I happen to think that mainstream journalists who blog tend give the best of both worlds - the greater freedom of expression that blogging allows combined with the professional training of a full-time journalist - less ranting, more basic fact checking etc. I also think the fact that writers in both mediums are engaging each other in criticism and debate is a good thing in the long run for journalism of all varieties.

Mainstream media Vs the Liberals
Like Joe Klein, I generally consider myself a moderate centrist like who does not believe that any one side of the political spectrum has all of the answers. I tend to vote for a political parties primarily on their competency rather than their ideology. I think paying attention to ideology is a waste of time anyway. Most mainstream political parties stand for very little and whatever principles they start out with promptly get sacrificed as soon as they obtain any degree of significant power. Everybody knows this, few people like to admit it, especially the cheerleaders on either side of the political spectrum.

As far as the political left goes, I think a little criticism and debate is a really good thing. Part of what has gotten the US Republicans into such a mess is the complete stifling of any form of real criticism or dissent. The result being blind loyalty to the party and its leadership which has corrupted the party and is distorted the ideals it once stood for. If the left in America and Europe wants to avoid that debacle, then I think debate and dialogue should be encouraged.

Klein answers his critics here

A liberal critic answers back

May the debate continue…