| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front |
| Jonah Goldberg on Cynthia McKinney |
| 2001-10-29 |
The idea that criticism equals censorship is pretty popular these days among Lefty intellectuals and journalists like Susan Sontag and David Talbot, but it's an idea no less idiotic for their subscription to it. I think this must be the fifth time I've written about this, but let me say it one more time: Criticizing people for saying or writing stupid or wrong things is not a violation of free-speech rights but a celebration of them. Ms. McKinney thinks she's a hero for saying unpopular things. But a bad idea doesn't become a good one simply because it is unpopular. Ms. McKinney wants to assume the mantle of a brave dissident, but she forgets that dissent is morally neutral. You can correctly call yourself a dissident because you like to kick puppies, but at the end of the day, you're just a jerk who likes to kick puppies. Ms. McKinney decided to suck up to a deep-pocketed scion of an authoritarian theocracy in order to exploit a national tragedy for her own political agenda. Her decision makes her unpopular. It doesn't make her the conscience of the nation. As for Ms. McKinney's suggestion that "many" Americans don't want to hear what African-Americans have to say about foreign policy — this idea is simultaneously arrogant, offensive, and moronic (a trifecta!). It's arrogant because it doesn't hold open the possibility that she could actually be wrong on the merits. It's offensive because, in her arrogance, she assumes that anybody who disagrees with her is not only wrong, but racist. And, it's moronic — oh, golly — it's moronic on all sorts of levels. Leave aside the fact that if Americans don't care what blacks have to say about foreign policy, then she needs to explain why I keep finding these quotes in my morning paper by Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell. It's also dimwitted because you simply cannot assume the role of free-speech champion while simultaneously accusing everyone who disagrees with you of racism. While Ms. McKinney's Washington Post op-ed is a veritable piñata of asininity, worthy of being whacked from any angle, let's stick with this last point. Ms. McKinney thinks — as many prominent black activists do — that you cannot disagree with a black person for reasons other than racism. This is one of the most spot-on demolitions of a nitwit I have ever had the pleasure of reading. It should be required reading in all English and Political Science courses. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |