Another Lefty is Horrified

Last week, I discussed a fascinating article by Todd Gitlin, an academic leftist, in which he noted with dismay the sad state of his intellectual movement today. Noting that he was guilty of the same basic false premise as his younger brothers in arms, I said the following.

And so, we are treated to the following astounding example of how the bad premises of leftism have driven out the good. Todd Gitlin, like some pot-smoking, irresponsible hippie who somehow still has some modicum of sense left, seems to become aware of his intellectual offspring for the first time in a decade and gasps when he sees how they have turned out after having him (or at least intellectuals like him) as an example to emulate.

Today, via Austin Bay, I have learned of another, similar occurrence. As with Gitlin, the victim, Richard Cohen of The Washington Post, seems not fully aware that the bad behavior he is seeing is fully consistent with what everyone else has observed from the left since the sixties. In this case, at least part of the explanation might be shell shock.

What happened? Well, Cohen dared to say that Steve Colbert was less than funny when he ranted at a recent White House correspondents' diner. I'll let Cohen tell the rest of the tale.

Kapow! Within a day, I got more than 2,000 e-mails. A day later, I got 1,000 more. By the fourth day, the number had reached 3,499 -- a figure that does not include the usual offers of nubile Russian women or loot from African dictators. The Colbert messages began with Patrick Manley ("You wouldn't know funny if it slapped you in the face") and ended with Ron ("Colbert ROCKS, you MURDER'") who was so proud of his thought that he copied countless others. Ron, you're a genius.

Truth to tell, I peeked into only a few of the e-mails. I did this because I would sometimes recognize a name I thought I knew, which was almost always a mistake. When I guilelessly clicked on the name, I would get a bucket of raw, untreated and disease-laden sewage right in the face. I'd quickly delete the thing, like closing a manhole cover, and move on, trying to figure out how to peek into an e-mail without getting the full, ugly message. No way. [bold added]

And Bay seems pretty much on the same page as I when he says:

... [O]f course Cohen has to blame America. "Hatred is back," he writes. Pish. These unhinged leftish kooks have been spewing this bile for years -- since roughly 1968. Arguably the bile has fossilized -- but Cohen is just now noticing it.

Alas, he writes: "Institution after institution failed America -- the presidency, Congress and the press."

Ridiculous. He sees the problem -- the venomous, inexcusable lack of civility and insistent demonization of opponents -- but won't really confront it. Instead, he partially excuses the phenomenon, with a cry of "the system's failed!" Utter pish.

The American left is where the American far right was in the 1950s -- besotted with anger, boiling in conspiracy theories. There is a difference, however. "Opinion leaders" like Cohen have let the hard left take a large bite out of their own liberal "mainstream." Cohen has just now discovered it, because his email box got jammed with garbage. It is a step toward enlightenment, however hesitant a step. [bold added]

This is on the mark but for the fact that the venom is not really the problem so much as a symptom. As Gitlin pointed out in his essay, "[T]heir curses are gestures of helplessness." And as I pointed out, this helplessness has, as its source, the abandonment by the left, of reason in favor of faith.

Gitlin, the man who said, "[D]issenting intellectuals might gain some traction by standing for reason," but yet indulges his own articles of faith is, fundamentally of the same cloth as Brennan. Brennan simply indulges other articles of faith, including the notion that the "bourgeoise" (i.e., those he disagrees with) ought to be "taken out" because they lack "educatabilty".

This would also explain why the right of the 1950's and another group even more venomous -- today's Islamists -- are noted for their penchant for conspiracy theories and the palpable hatred they direct towards anyone they disagree with.

When one abandons reason, one will accept any cockamamie theory that supports one's pet views, and one will spew venom at those who are clearly more in touch with reality.

-- CAV