Prog/lib/left blogger Matthew Yglesias is quite the darling among many of the left-leaning netroots. So it’s useful perhaps to see how others in the progressive cohort view his criticism of W’s Endless War. That Lasts Forever.
James Kirchik, an assistant editor at The New Republic, says that Yglesias has his head in the sand:
If only Yglesias were as tough on America’s mortal enemies as he is with his own intellectual adversaries. While acknowledging that “many liberal hawks took note of the near-total absence of international backing for [the Iraq] war,” he attacks them for not recognizing “the reason that Bush’s position had so little support,” without bothering to consider whether liberal hawks might have had a point in assuming that China, Russia, and France were not pure of motive in their opposition to the invasion. He echoes Osama bin Laden when he argues that Islamist anger against the West is a justified response to foreign powers that “occupy Muslim land.” This is a bold assertion, and yet Yglesias doesn’t care to explore why Iran and Syria — countries where foreign soldiers haven’t set foot for decades Рcontinue to be the two most active state sponsors of international terrorism.
Might be because this whole “defending Western Civilization against a remorseless enemy” thing is harder and more time-consuming than many gave it credit for being.
But hey: It does offer opportunities for chic poses. That’s Yglesias hisself, and as Omri at Mere Rhetoric points out, it is a demonstration of a sort:
Terrorist chic is merely the latest retarded hipster trend to confirm the brutally obvious: spoiled liberal Ivy kids are not ready to talk to adults yet. The Left is not serious. They just don’t get things. Like “terrorism is not ironic or cool”. They just don’t get it. They’re in it for the smirks – and for their parochial back-patting sessions regarding their imagined cosmopolitan superiority.
Whatever gets ya through.
Kind of reminds me of all those Che Guevera pics I saw on t-shirts and posters while in college. Sure, the guy talked a pretty good game and while he was about as effective as a snowflake in hades he had a pretty good image going on.
Image. It’s not if you can deliver, it’s not even if you have a Good Idea, instead it’s all about The Message and How That Makes People Feel.
We saw that once before. Socialism, Fascism, Marxism, all were about message and the feelings of the proles vs. demonstrable results.
Yglesias? I’ve read his works, I find them lacking. I suspect there’s a reason he’s writing on a blog and not yet part of the cohort at one of the Think Tanks or offering opinion on a MSM or NPR round table discussion.
That then reminds me, to name one example, if Kos of the Daily Kos was so darned influential why none of the campaigns hired him?
Seems that old adage about useful idiots is still appropos.
I note specifically that Lex isn’t in this category, given his is a MilBlog and his digressions into politics is as an outsider looking in. I’d call these posts of his more observational, worker bees looking up at the directives from Mahogony Row and wondering just what Kool-Aid they’d quaffed.
Still, one gains rank if one proves useful to the powers that be. Given the MSM and bloggers have been fighting for scoops, the fact that bloggers aren’t brought up the chain leads me to believe we’re watching a tempest in a teapot.
– Max
Get over it, Lex, you are a warmonger, and just not smart enough to grasp the brilliance that is Matt Y.
/sarc off
Is it just me, or is it really, really hard not to imagine how quickly that insipid smirk would be replaced with something far more serious were Yglesias to actually be confronted with the true reality of terrorism?
Is it bad that at least a very small part of me would feel a degree of schadenfruede should it ever happen?
Probably so, but there it is. I yam what I yam.
gimme five minutes with the chubby little turd, so i can explain my nuanced position on the topic.
Wow. . .and I thought Paris Hilton was a real airhead. . .
It seems the proverbial limbo stick of human stupidity has just been lowered. Again.
He loos like Harry Potter with a dish towel on his head about to quarter a chicken!
Pencil-necked geek!
b2
B2, I think he really looks…(not … ” loos” you Goober) like a deranged Advanced Naval Aviation Cadet with a dish towel on his head about to quarter a chicken… don’t you ? Best
You get more cooperation with a kind word and a JDAM, than just a kind word alone.
The Germans have the word schadenfruede not because they feel joy at the misfortunes of others, but because they feel joy at the misfortunes of others who really, really deserve it. It’s a self-inflicted wound, and we get to stand around, point, and laugh.
Gotta hand it to the Germans, they give us all that and some great cars too.
— Max
Thanks, Max, I think that’s the answer I was looking for.
I love the smell of schadenfruede in the morning.
In the good old days, a bum like the over-educated self-important twerp above would get knocked on his A$$ by a fist in his kisser.