America the Illiterate (a liberal gets it mostly right)

Truthdig ^ | 10 Nov 2008 | Chris Hedges

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Yeah but how is our self-esteem?

[Mr. Blonde]

I have to admit ignorance to most of the names you mentioned. In my defense many of them died before I was born and the ones that didn’t died before I was interested in politics.

A quick perusal of their wikipedia pages does give some clues in the differences between them and most commentators today. They are all listed as political philosophers. The contemporary names mentioned are all journalists. It is not in their job description necessarily to define conservatism as a philosophy. Sure they propagate the message to the masses, but they don’t necessarily come up with the ideas to begin with.

I think both sides are lacking in people like the ones you mentioned. There could be a variety of reasons for that, but the current culture certainly plays a role. Who wants to think about such heavy things when you can turn on the tv and see Ann Coulter among others say outrageous things.

It will be interesting to see if someone does step in to fill that void now. Lord knows we need someone to.

[KC Burke]

Besides Thomas Sowell, we can include the following authors:
Shelby Steele
Walter Williams
Jonah Goldberg
Andrew Napolitano
Mark Levin
Kenneth Minoque
James Kalb
Robert Bork
Richard Brookheiser
George Cary
Dinesh D’Souza
John P. East (recently deceased)
M. Stanton Evans
Gary L. Gregg II
Peter Lawler
Harvey C. Mansfield
Wilfred McClay
Forrest McDonald (recently retired but get everything he wrote or does write)
George H. Nash
George A. Panichas
Peter J. Stanlis
Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
John Zmirak

isi.org is a good place to start

[Gabz]

Allow me to explain how I couldn't read till third grade. The public school system was so screwed up, there was no fixxing it. My mother spent a summer with me teaching me to read. According to the what the school said, my reading level went from second grade reading failure, to junior high level reading in one summer.

Why is this the fault of the public schools? Obviously you mother was capable of teaching you to read, so why did she wait until you were in 2nd grade to do so?

My daughter was reading at 5th grade level when she entered kindergarten.

[GOPJ]

This is why serious film and theater and other serious artistic expression, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of American society. Voltaire was the most famous man of the 18th century. Today the most famous “person” is Mickey Mouse.

Sorry - this guy's delusional. Most of the "news" in the MSM is propaganda - and not worth paying for - and most of the movies are the same - except worse - propaganda when entertainment is expected. And as far as "Voltaire" being the most famous man of the 18th centrury - that time period lacked the capacity for the ordinary to have their 15 minutes - or for those totally lacking in talent to push their way to the top...

Not that I don't appreciate reading some whiny liberal complain about the great unwashed not reading MSM propaganda, but if he came here he would realize we can read - and we don't read MSM stuff...

[Madame Dufarge]

I have a friend whose screaming moonbat daughter and son-in-law don't hesitate to look down their elitist noses at my friend's Christianity. They imagine themselves to be intellectuals.

Yet, when something goes wrong in their lives, they always ask my friend to "pray to God for them."

Since they're "intellectuals," they're blind to the irony.

[word_warrior_bob]

The non reality is the “Media Matrix”, the alternate reality where everything liberal, socialist and communist is good. The brainwashing of public schools, colleges, sitcoms, music, movies and the US Pravda’s reporting of news.

We must rescue the victims of the Matrix and introduce them to reality.

http://members.mountain.net/theanalyticpapers/matrix8.htm

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x32cxf_yuri-bezmenov

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

The Marching Morons march on.

[henkster]

“We need a wholesale cleansing of liberalism from the public school system and a return to an emphasis on the three R’s, discipline and personal responsibility.”

Absolutely. New tagline below:

[Notary Sojac]

I think both sides are lacking in people like the ones you mentioned.

Oh, I quite agree. I can't be surprised or upset to think that the leftist commentators of today are featherweights, but I get both those feelings when contemplating the state of conservative authorship.

[sailor4321]

And, given that he thinks of humans in terms of “breeding stocks”, he probably doesn’t get laid very often, either!

[Issaquahking]

Grade school in the early sixties, didn't stand a chance in the public school system with the "new age" approach from that era. Doesn't matter how nice the teacher was, garbage in, garbage out.

Phonics became the saving grace, for reading. To make matters a little more fun, the math was the same story.