From the tipline…
Dear Dr. Liberal:
If Mike Matthews had a spine, what kind of vertebrate would he be?
– A Fellow Cubozoa
You are no doubt referring to my recent difference of opinion with Mike about the relative bias of the press. (Him thinking that the press is out to get whoever is president and is therefor by nature pretty even handed and me not being a moron.)
But I don’t think it is spinelessness in Mike’s case that makes him want to play the foolish libertarian and make false equivalencies between left and right. In fact I think if circumstances demand it Mike could have a pretty durable spine. A spine that I would like to have by my side on the ramparts when Darth Cheney declares marshall law and installs himself as Lord Protector of the Homeland. Well maybe not beside me, but infront of me to act as a kind of bullet catcher.
No. it is not spinelessness that makes hi tread the middle of the road. It is brainwashing. Mike’s blog is called “Down With Absolutes” for a reason. Like many of his species he has seen a lot of bullshit hijinx (sp?) pulled by people who think that they have the inside track on the truth and worship the one true God. He has seen that freakshow Fred Phelps brandish his megaphone and his perfect confidence. And he has seen liberal excess carried out by people who think that know the one true way to salvation (although I can’t come up with a fitting example right now.)
Seeing what he’s seen his mind was fertile ground for the media to plant the seed of thought that there really is no objective truth. That everything is is spin and the truth lies somewhere between contending ideologies. The problem is that from time to time the truth is not the average of right and wrong.
Yes, Virginia there are absolutes.
Signed,
Dr. Liberal.