#rsrh John Podheretz is giving away the game, here.

John wrote today on the subject of Obamacare: more specifically, John wrote today on the epistemic closure that caused the Left to not notice that there were powerful and persuasive arguments against Obamacare until said arguments descended upon them like a hammer from orbit. For the record, I do not guarantee that Obamacare is going to get tossed in toto: but it looks really, really bad for the individual mandate right now; and the generally feckless nature of the administration’s advocates in oral arguments are not going to fill the Supreme Court with confidence that the legislature can repair this particular train wreck.

Anyway, John Podheretz finishes his article with this:

 There will again come a time when liberals and conservatives disagree on a fundamental intellectual matter. Conservatives will take liberals and their arguments seriously and try to find the best way to argue the other side.

And the liberals will put their fingers in their ears and sing, “La la la.”

This is based on a reality that many liberals do not want to hear: the reason why conservatives understand liberals better than liberals understand conservatives is because you cannot avoid the liberal mindset in this culture even if you wanted to.  It’s flipping everywhere: and you have to learn to recognize at least the basics in sheer memetic self-defense.  Contrariwise, it is exceedingly easy for liberals to ignore conservatives if they so desire; and most liberals do.  Honestly, if conservatives could ignore liberals we probably would; we would, if we could, but we can’t, so we don’t.

And if you think that all of this is unfair, consider this: when was the last time that the conservative movement got caught as flatfooted as liberals did over the Obamacare critiques?  Not saying that it doesn’t happen, but liberals do seem to tend to get unpleasantly surprised a lot…

8 thoughts on “#rsrh John Podheretz is giving away the game, here.”

  1. Just a reminder, kids: real emails or don’t bother. Unless I decide that I like you. Then it’s OK.

    Also, a protip: never offer an argument on a Righty site that can be rebutted with the word ‘Gitmo.’ Oh, sorry, was that acid I just dripped on your exposed soul? So sorry.

  2. It isn’t just ignoring the arguments, the liberals seem to prefer to build caricatures of conservatives, made mostly of straw (straw men, as it were). Many of the popular shows reflect this, and yes, I’m looking at you later seasons Law & Order. Build up a conservative bad guy, full of ignorance and prejudice, and deliver witty and devastating dialog at his expense. Then arrest him. As a result, the Tea party simply must be made up of ignorant, racist rednecks, organized from on high. Conservatives can only be greedy, deluded or evil. It must be shocking to learn that it isn’t necessarily so… I weep for them.

  3. >>Also, a protip: never offer an argument on a Righty site that can be rebutted with the word ‘Gitmo.’ Oh, sorry, was that acid I just dripped on your exposed soul? So sorry.

    Sounds to me like posting whatever the kid sent to you, then your response and then asking folks to hit the tip-jar might be effective.

  4. Remember: slavery, segregation, jim crow, nuclear bombing, japanese internment, vietnam, and eugenics were all democrat supported plans and causes. Funny how they never mention that in pop culture

  5. Podheretz has a great piece at Commentary about the Kael Quote–and the real version will give you even more of a window to the lib soul. *shudder* The ‘theatre’ part is the icing.

  6. Haven’t seen your email, of course, but some of the stuff that Jonah Goldberg and Michelle Malkin republish is rather pathetic, in the pitiable sense of the word.

  7. It’s true what Glenn Reynolds on Instapundit says: Liberals want Conservatives to shut up, Conservatives want Liberals to keep talking. And Jim Treacher at the Daily Caller gives a lot of examples of the Liberals talking points of “Shut Up!”

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