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To: summer; Torie
I feel sorry for Dreher. Mess with the simplistic categories that journalists and ideologues use to divide up the world, and they'll tear you to pieces.

Evangelicalism or environmentalism or pro-life activism doesn't fit neatly into the packages that ideologues and the media design for them. One family may opt to have one parent stay home to teach the children without "disapproving" of "mothers who work outside the home." Nor is any attitude towards immigration necessarily implied by crunchy conservatism.

I think the point is more that many of these beliefs are detachable and can be combined in ways that people think right. Viewing Dreher's beliefs as "funky" or "crunchy" or "right-wing hippiedom" or "anti-modernism" is just falling back into the same tired old categories of thirty years ago or more. I don't know if Dreher understands it himself but Kirkpatrick surely doesn't. His article is another example of looking at something so far from the outside that you don't see what it's really like.

"Modernity" is a pretty problematic concept. I don't think one can write environmentalists or evangelicals or birkenstock wearing-hippies out of "modernity" any more than one can make the modern the exclusive property of secular liberals or corporate executives or scientific rationalists.

National Review obsesses about "crunchy conservatism" in their crunchy blog. Those interested may find it worth a look.

51 posted on 03/12/2006 1:30:25 PM PST by x
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To: x
National Review obsesses about "crunchy conservatism" in their crunchy blog. Those interested may find it worth a look.

Very interesting -- I tool a quick look and I see Dreher posts on that blog. Maybe he started it. BTW, I never heard of any of this before I read the book review. If someone had mentioned the phrase "crunchy con" to me prior to that, I probably would have thought it a new breakfast cereal! But, since being on FR, I always knew those kind of conservatives exist, and as I said, such an image really goes against the image of conservatives that some Dem bloggers want to promote. Perhaps that's one reason their candidates never win elections these days.
53 posted on 03/12/2006 1:37:32 PM PST by summer
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