Right-Wing Envy. Do you have it?

Slate ^ | August 29, 2002 | Jack Shafer

[John Jorsett]

The LA Weekly's astute John Powers, a self-described economic lefty, expresses his envy of right-wing journalism in his column this week. Powers celebrates the Weekly Standard, which "woos you by saying, 'We're having big fun over here on the right,' " over The Nation, which he mocks as "a profoundly dreary magazine" that is as "gray and unappetizing as homework."

"Reading the average Nation editorial is like trying to gobble a box of dry muesli," Powers writes. Its "headlines are warnings, not enticements," and a "scolding puritanism" drives the magazine. Meanwhile, "high spirits course through the Standard," led by "a core of enjoyable writers, notably David Brooks, Christopher Caldwell (whose article on Islam in France is one of the best things I've read this year) and David Tell, probably the country's most compelling editorialist."

That the Weekly Standard should ascend to relative greatness and leave The Nation in its dust is, for Powers, an inversion of the natural order. He writes:

Back in the '60s, the left was the home of humor, iconoclasm, pleasure. But over the last two decades, the joy has gone out of the left—it now feels hedged in by shibboleths and defeatism—while the right has been having a gas, be it Lee Atwater grooving to the blues, Rush Limbaugh chortling about Feminazis or grimly gleeful Ann Coulter serving up bile as if it were chocolate mousse, even dubbing Katie Couric "the affable Eva Braun of morning television."

The image of Powers tapping covetously on the window of the right-wing funhouse is a thing of wonderment. But he isn't the only envy case out there. The Nation's Christopher Hitchens, whom Powers applauds in his piece as one of the few "memorable" Nation writers (along with Alexander Cockburn and John Leonard), consummated his right-wing envy in the '90s by switching sides on a few key issues. The left-talking, right-hitting Hitchens infuriates the left rank-and-file by excoriating Bill Clinton as "corrupt," opposing abortion, and supporting war against "Islamic fascism."

Elsewhere on the envy front we find Slate's own Michael Kinsley, who having once played a lefty on Crossfire, recently confessed his devotion to the right-tilt of Brit Hume's Special Report on Fox News. (Ordinarily, Kinsley satisfies his right-wing envy by hiring and publishing conservatives instead of watching them on television.) Mickey "kausfiles" Kaus is another local suspect, although I believe Kaus had as much fun when he was a straight-ahead lefty as he does as a neo-righty today.

Nation columnist (and MSNBC.com blogger) Eric Alterman rarely loiters far from left orthodoxy, but I sense more than a smidgen of right-wing envy in the butcher bludgeon of his work. Did Alterman, who has been known to compose measured and thoughtful copy, observe the success of cannon mouth Rush Limbaugh and say, "Yes, I can make that sort of demagogic noise from the left"? And, without a doubt, the busybodies behind Media Whores Online expose their right-wing envy by aping the methods and practices of their intellectual ancestors—Lee Atwater, Sen. Joe McCarthy, and Accuracy in Media's Reed Irvine.

Obviously, the right's superior financial backing accounts for much of the envy: The Weekly Standard, owned by Rupert Murdoch, prints on glossy paper and runs fancy illustrations. The Nation, owned by a liberal gaggle including Paul Newman, ships on budget. But it's not just money that makes right writing so much fun. While the right seeks converts, trying both to persuade and entertain, the left spends its journalistic energy policing the movement. Imagine The Nation running a weekly column about nothing, called "Casual," as the Standard does. Also, conservative journalists are more likely to allow readers to enjoy a magazine article without strong-arming them into signing the ideology oath that seems to come packed with most lefty journalism. For instance, when the Standard's David Brooks profiled "Patio Man," the acquisitive consumer who haunts Home Depot looking for things to buy, he both laughed at its subject and exalted him without fear of contradiction.

Of course, lefty journalism needn't turn right to improve itself. But Powers hints that the source of The Nation's illness is the Stalinist impulse to prescribe proper attitudes toward culture, art, and journalism. A Nation writer who, say, wants to use humor or wit to make his point mustn't abuse gays, blacks, Jews, Hispanics, Ralph Nader, foreigners, women, the infirm, working stiffs, Indians, Mohammed (but Jesus is fair game), whales, or any cultural stereotype. This leaves him just one angle from which to compose his point: Stupid White Men. Such is the state of left journalism that Michael Moore has made a career out of painting and repainting this mono-mural.

How the anything-goes drug-and-sex party that the cultural left threw in the '60s segued into an Amish wake featuring stern readings from the joyless work of Barbara Ehrenreich, the scoldings of Todd Gitlin, and the catechisms of Richard Goldstein is anybody's guess. Would Emma Goldman dance with these folks? Or would she make a beeline for the house on the right, which looks like a brothel in comparison to the one on the left? I await the Powers sequel.

(Do you suffer right-wing envy? Or, are you a righty who wishes he had been born a lefty? Send comments, tips, and personal confessions to PressBox@hotmail.)

[ladtx]

Uh-oh, looks like they may have figured us out. We're just having too much fun.

[rdb3]

It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that the Left has no sense of humor, while we on the Right do have a huge one.

[posterkid]

Excellent post. Thanks.

Ann Coulter is certainly having a lot more fun in every interview she does than any Democrat I can think of, with the possible exception of Traficant.

[Burkeman1]

Only white male hetero exploiters and oppressors are able to laugh in the face of so much injustice!

[Chi-townChief]

"Back in the '60s, the left was the home of humor, iconoclasm, pleasure."

This is pretty much B.S. Their jokes were still pretty P.C. and they would smoke dope, hang their heads, and say, "This country just f**ks you, man!" And I know quite a few people who haven't grown out of that.

[Still Thinking]

Hmmm, could it be that the intelligent, creative people who write well are the same ones who are smart enough to be conservative?

[wimpycat]

Right-wing journalism=steak and baked potato

Left-wing journalism=bean sprouts and tofu

[rdb3]

That laughter isn't confined to just "white male hetero exploiters," Burke. This "black male hetero exploiter" lives in a perpetual comedy world, and the Left is the supplier of the laughter.

[lavaroise]

"Back in the '60s, the left was the home of humor, iconoclasm, pleasure."

Iconoclasm!! What! You got to be kidding me, with all the icon idolatry peace and love crap. These people are stupid or what.

[KC_Conspirator]

I read the referenced article this week and thought this was amusing.

[JennysCool]

They're finally getting it. Journalism on the Left is nothing but "scolding puritanism" these days. In fact, that's the best description of "The Movement" circa 2002 as I've ever come across.

[Billthedrill]

But Powers hints that the source of The Nation's illness is the Stalinist impulse to prescribe proper attitudes toward culture, art, and journalism.

Uh, yeah. It is no accident that the term "politically correct" originated with good ol' Uncle Joe.

I'm not so sure about the superior funding claim, either - the American Spectator went out of circulation for awhile on account of funding and it isn't quite what I'd describe as "leftwing."

This leaves him just one angle from which to compose his point: Stupid White Men. Such is the state of left journalism that Michael Moore has made a career out of painting and repainting this mono-mural.

True enough, but they can still bash conservatives of every sex and race. That's about the only color-blindness they have left.

[Tex-Con-Man]

while we on the Right do have a huge one.

...and the conservative women aren't talkin'.

[rdb3]

...and the conservative women aren't talkin'.

Ya know, I meant to hit "preview" again but hit "post." I saw that.

Uh, oh! ;-)

[PJ-Comix]

We already have a THREAD and a discussion about the article written by Powers in the LA Weekly.

[LibKill]

The left is SO busted! Morally bankrupt, intellectually impoverished, and BORING.

[PJ-Comix]

NEVER say anything bad about Mickey Kaus. He had very good things to say about my humor articles when they were published at the L.A. Herald Examiner where he also worked. Anybody in the media who praises PJ's writings is automatically absolved of all sin. This happened with John Webster, the wacky lefty DJ over at WEZX in Scranton, PA. He and I used to go at it on the UseNet to the point where it almost reached the level of a thermonuclear confrontation. Then one day, Webster posted how he really enjoyed my comix. At that point he was declared ABSOLVED of all sin. Yes, he still has wacky lefty views but because he declared himself to be a PJ fan, I will defend my one-time arch-enemy against ALL opponents.

p.s. Flattery will get you EVERYWHERE with me.

[Pagey]

are you a righty who wishes he had been born a lefty?

What kind of drivel of a question is that?I highly doubt that is even in the realm of possibility for anyone brought up w/ 2 parents who disciplined them,instead of trying to be their friends and letting them off easy.

[Pagey]

Conservatives such as P.J. O'Rourke have acknowledged just how stupid and embarrassing he was in the 60's.He learned to laugh at himself and realized "God I sure was immature back then".It's called growing up and living in the real world,not having to---in the words of ALGORE: "I'll Fight for this" " I'll Fight for you". Go to H____ Mr. "let's pit the groups in America against one another in order to succeed"!

To AlBore and every other Socialist that poses as a Liberal: I can make my way myself, thank you very much , I don't need you for anything.