Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Will You Swear The New Lefty Blogger's Oath?

From ThatColoredFellasWeblog regarding Howard Dean's recent appearance on Meet the Press:
... he held his ground under some tough and warranted questioning by Tim Russert.
But, there was one point the Governor so eloquently made, that had the pajama-clad TCF shouting and shaking his head in agreement, now the motto I blog by:

"I have an enormous amount of respect for people who have different opinions, but they have to defend their opinions. You can't just say, "I want to privatize Social Security because I want to privatize Social Security." You have to really show me why you want to do what you want to do. And if you can defend your ideas, I'll respect those ideas."
TBL has had some interesting visits lately from illiberal visitors who have commented on earlier posts, sometimes with what seems to me as a lack of intellectual rigor. Though these visitors may not have the same respect for Governor Dean that I do, I would ask them to take the Governor's words to heart when commenting here. I'll try to do the same when posting any entries or comments. Keep in mind, as others have pointed out, that "because God says so" is not a logical argument (outside of Saudi Arabia).

2 comments:

PridePress said...

I like this, and am down with it...Mostly.

I will not respect ideas just because they are defended.

That implies that I should respect the ideas of Rick Santorum because he has defended them.

That is shortsighted in my view.

I will respect the intelligent defense of ideas with verifiable facts, not opinions that are twisted, tainted, and spun to fit the argument. Thereby making them "because I say so ideas" anyway.

Just my thoughts here.

I used to be an idealistic optomist that would have bought into this whole heartedly, but America has beaten me down. Now I look out for every trap that is set before I put my big foot in it.

True Blue Liberal said...

Gary,
I can remember arguments in school with Republicans during the Nixon years when my opponents spoke in complete sentences. Their arguments had nothing to do with Rick Santorum's mindless faith in absolutes that transcend the Constitution and logic. I would love to see one illiberal visitor to this site comment without resorting to ad hominem attacks on Howard Dean's screams, Michael Moore's weight, my blogname, etc. etc., but I don't think there's anything at the base of their arguments (other than the old conservative selfishness, and only Ayn Rand was honest enough to point out that uncomfortable fact).