[f.Christian]

I like this explanation...

"Though the sentiment is obviously inane, Mr. Trilling's hubris, and that of liberals in general, was perhaps understandable in light of the fact that he wrote at the precise midpoint of the long liberal interregnum that prevailed from the presidency of Herbert Hoover (1928) until the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980. The position of Left intellectuals of that day seems somehow reminiscent of the famed little old lady who told a physics lecturer that all he had said about the heliocentric universe was rubbish because :"

'The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.'

"The scientist gave a superior smile before replying,"

'What is the tortoise standing on?'

'You're very clever, young man, very clever,' said the old lady. 'But it's turtles all the way down.'

"Trilling and company, perched on the middle tortoise, assumed it must be tortoises all the way up and down. As Russell Kirk amply demonstrated, they were as wrong as she."

"As Russell Kirk amply demonstrated, they were as wrong as she."

Real funny...

it must be tortoises(evolution/atheism) all the way up and down.

Did you ever study Western Civilization---American History?

Maybe if you did...you wouldn't be so distracted---confused!

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

"Though the sentiment is obviously inane, Mr. Trilling's hubris, and that of liberals in general, was perhaps understandable in light of the fact that he wrote at the precise midpoint of the long liberal interregnum that prevailed from the presidency of Herbert Hoover (1928) until the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980...

Hey! What did you do to Ike?