I'm on a deadline, so I reserve the right to revise and extend my remarks, but I think Ross Douthat is basically right in his take.That was about that goldarned epistemic closure doodadery.
Today Jonah walks it back:
Well, I stayed out of the whole brouhaha at first because I had a crazy-busy day. Then, as the argument around here played itself out, it seemed less and less necessary.Manzi, you dumbass, you don't read what Jonah writes and examine the truth claims, you read what Jonah writes and assess it as a talking point for conservatives or a slur against liberals. RTFM.
Still, since I wrote quite a bit about this “epistemic closure” business, and since Jim’s initial post cited me by name, and since some readers won’t rest until I say something, I guess I’ll say something.
I was a bit miffed at Jim for the way he used what I increasingly believe to be to break with his well-earned reputation for civility and decorum — and in the Corner no less. If he wanted to argue with Mark about global warming, I don’t see why he needed Ross Douthat’s “challenge” to do so.
7 comments:
Jonah's not a douchewagon. He's a douchEscalade.
I don't understand these idiots at all. They don't even PRETEND to support diversity in opinion, the slightest deviation from the orthodox ideology is punished, often by de facto excommunication, they place a premium on uniform adherence to the accepted policy positions and they, as a group, avoid specific policy prescriptions that can be attacked in favor of generalizations such as "all taxes are bad" and "free markets are the only path to prosperity".
So why would they have a problem with so-called epistemic closure? It seems to me to be something they equate with loyalty and ideological purity - you'd think they'd embrace it. "Yer damn right we got us some epistemic closure! We don't cotton to none of those lefty liberal secular commie tyranical ideas that take away our freedoms and destroy liberty".
Why would they even bother trying to push back?
Is there some right-wing collective animosity to Pauline Kael I should be aware of? Or is this just Goldberg being the doofus he is?
I think PK is shorthand for "elitism"
I've always liked Ambinder, but this is just self-serving twaddle.
I defer to Jonah's knowledge of self-serving twaddle. Maybe Mickey Kaus, Marc Ambinder, and Jonah can work it all out on a visit to the goat-blowing farm.
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Well, I stayed out of the whole brouhaha at first because I had a crazy-busy day.
His navel must have been extra linty.
I wonder what that LGF guy would say about epistemic closure...
J—:
The specific "bunkerism" Jo Blow is on about is Kael's mentioning that someone she knew, after the 2000 selection, had said she "didn't know a single person who voted for Bush."
This was quickly turned into Kael herself having said it, & cited as a perfect example of everything wrong w/ everything, especially on the Upper West Side, or wherever it is they imagine such people live.
Alluded to recently here, even.
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