Category: media

Mike Pesca is surprised consensus opinions are the consensus.

Mike Pesca’s most recent podcast episode, “The Gist” titled “Kasich and Klepper” has a long spiel about cancel culture prompted by Michael Hobbes’s description of the phenomena as a moral panic. Mike defines cancel culture as “meeting an argument with a call for punishment” which I think is a fair description. He points out that… Continue reading Mike Pesca is surprised consensus opinions are the consensus.

What media are those people consuming?

So what media are those people consuming? And would the people running those media outlets give Biden better press if he stopped pushing for things the audience wanted rather than the things the people who owned the outlets wanted?

David Brook’s Stupid Opinion in The New York Times

Is David Brooks suggesting we hold random twitter commenters, late night hosts and salad bar denizens to the same high standard that we hold the president? Or did he just rush to meet the deadline and come up with the most lavy BOTH SIDES argument ever? Democratic leadership in the House have actually had really… Continue reading David Brook’s Stupid Opinion in The New York Times

Third Journalist Was Paid to Promote Bush Policies

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 – The Bush administration acknowledged on Friday that it had paid a third conservative commentator, and at least two departments said they were conducting internal inquiries to see if other journalists were under government contract. via Third Journalist Was Paid to Promote Bush Policies Something to think about then you read about… Continue reading Third Journalist Was Paid to Promote Bush Policies

Racism Doesn’t Need a Devil’s Advocate

Racism Doesn’t Need a Devil’s Advocate

As a concept, the devil’s advocate is incoherent. If a position is really as unpopular as the name indicates, there is no need to argue for it. Debating isn’t an ideology; it’s a methodology. We debate to get to a truth, not for its own sake. Most often, the devil’s advocate is really saying there is something at the core of the argument that they are (perhaps ashamedly) compelled by, and so they employ a rhetorical trick allowing themselves to argue a position without ever having to hold it. This allows exploration of deep-seated racism under the guise of putting forth someone else’s argument. The irony is that it could invite a deeper discussion of race than may otherwise happen, since it inherently reveals what white people really think and struggle with around race.