I was always pro left wing. I always read and listened to lefty views. Partly this was my upbringing, but also a reaction to right wing or conservative actions. It did seem that we were the good guys. But over the years (I am 73) I started to consider our actions and started to have doubts. And the doubts continue. And things like October 7 make things even more obvious why I don't consider myself a leftist anymore. But the wrong-headedness of some on the left is about them. There still are plenty of fools on the right. I have seen lefty commentators switch sides and be too forgiving of the right. This is harmful. It just increases the likelihood of lefty's not being able to consider moderation and then this ups the extremism on the right. I think it is important to go wherever the truth is if you can. Not to shy away from difficult ideas. When MSNBC or CNN bashes Donald or Fox news or the NY Post attacks Biden I consider what they say and also consider their potential bias. Unfortunately both sides are often full of it. And there are Russian or Iranian trolls who are not our friends. And both sides should if nothing else wake up to this: they are not your friends.
Good screed as I've come to expect. Maybe a solution to the matter of missing voices - triangulation. See the headline, find the source and start digging. A "climate" story - find the scientific paper and read it to find the headline is wrong, or the paper itself is shit. You have the search for the truth.
Hi John! I don't think "we" have an "Islamophobia" problem... but I can assure you there are people who do. The problem is not denouncing "Islamophobia;" the problem is feeling the need to throw it in for "balance," as if somehow what happened on October 7 and since has an analog for Muslims. It's the moral equivalence that is repugnant.
I was always pro left wing. I always read and listened to lefty views. Partly this was my upbringing, but also a reaction to right wing or conservative actions. It did seem that we were the good guys. But over the years (I am 73) I started to consider our actions and started to have doubts. And the doubts continue. And things like October 7 make things even more obvious why I don't consider myself a leftist anymore. But the wrong-headedness of some on the left is about them. There still are plenty of fools on the right. I have seen lefty commentators switch sides and be too forgiving of the right. This is harmful. It just increases the likelihood of lefty's not being able to consider moderation and then this ups the extremism on the right. I think it is important to go wherever the truth is if you can. Not to shy away from difficult ideas. When MSNBC or CNN bashes Donald or Fox news or the NY Post attacks Biden I consider what they say and also consider their potential bias. Unfortunately both sides are often full of it. And there are Russian or Iranian trolls who are not our friends. And both sides should if nothing else wake up to this: they are not your friends.
Hi D.
I love your blog. I love the way you write all over the place and moving smoothly from issue to issue.
I like your take about the Hamas afficionados who surely are champaign leftists who see their actions as the Beatles second coming......
Good screed as I've come to expect. Maybe a solution to the matter of missing voices - triangulation. See the headline, find the source and start digging. A "climate" story - find the scientific paper and read it to find the headline is wrong, or the paper itself is shit. You have the search for the truth.
Dani -
We do NOT have an "Islamophobia" problem. Our elites have an "Islamophilia" problem. JW
Hi John! I don't think "we" have an "Islamophobia" problem... but I can assure you there are people who do. The problem is not denouncing "Islamophobia;" the problem is feeling the need to throw it in for "balance," as if somehow what happened on October 7 and since has an analog for Muslims. It's the moral equivalence that is repugnant.