Power Corrupts Absolutely

I have, for several weeks now, been saying that it is immoral to give certain highly intelligent, totally unaccountable liars any more exposure than they already get, but this morring I suddenly had two countervening epiphanies. First, I am no better nor more important than they are (considerably less so, actually), so for the moment I will suspend my own arrogance and obsequiousness, and I will climb into the jello-tub with them.

Second, I realized that I am making certain prejudicial assumptions about them. I have intuited that they are the worst sort of writers—pundits who never manage to escape a cycle of conforming the facts to an uncritical idolatry of current neo-con gospel. The reason they never surprise you is that they have no other job than to idolize that gospel, and doing something interesting—along the lines of a thoughtful critique of their own inherited party-line positions—is not within the realm of the possible for them. (Update: We expected a gradual deteriorization of consensus in the ranks, and here it comes—from the aging agnostics. Unchallenged arrogance and groupthink has its inherent downside. Power corrupts, you know.) So I decided, right here and now, that I would give these fellows the benefit of the doubt. When I go to their blog, which I will do momentarily, I will check on their position with regard to the shameless bankruptcy bill (so ably considered by the Big Boss over here). If their position is what I expect it to be, I pledge that I will never again sully these pages with the merest mention of them. On the other hand, if they surprise me, the lines will stay open.

Just to be clear, I am not a powerful, widely read pundit (the closest I ever got to Time magazine was once interviewing to be an editor there), and I have no reasonable hope of influencing anyone anywhere. This is merely a proposed personal and permanent embargo. In other words, this will hurt me more than it hurts you. Ah, but there I go making my assumptions again!

So, here I go… be right back… (start the clock)…

I’m back. It took me three minutes to scroll the homepage. Wading through a majority of posts that mostly celebrate (what else) the importance of Power Line, or idolize the President, I was astonished to see that the boys have not weighed in on the Bankruptcy Bill… I need to dive back in here. Is it possible that there is no reasonable defense that a couple of bankers can credibly pose? Hmmm.. be right back…

I cannot readily find the boys’ views—they have apparently never mumbled the word “bankruptcy” as a term pertaining to banking rather than morality—but I have had, in just a few minutes, a nose full of their self-promotion, self-righteousness, and… well, just their selves. I think it would be wrong not to go ahead with that embargo just the same.


Posted

in

by

Tags:

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.