Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Headless Liberals Everywhere

If you want some insight into liberal thinking, read JT columnist Heather Gascoigne's article entitled "Headless women everywhere." Or just read my analysis.

Gascione became a "strident feminist" of the "women rule, men drool" variety before moderating her views to allow for "the gray areas of a lot of issues." But, "sometimes those strident feminist tendencies come up again. Usually in a heated moment. I try to hold them back until I can find a cogent argument for why I feel the way I do." Gascione also writes "if I believe something, you can be sure that I've thought about the reasons why I believe it. Even if, in the end, the reason comes down to "There is no reason; I just feel that way," I've thought about it."

Note the role that thinking plays for Gascione. First she reaches a conclusion of some sort or other, usually in a heated, or emotional, moment. Then she allows herself time to seek a cogent argument in order to validate her feelings. If that fails, she can simply revert back to "I just feel that way." The reason to think is to justify conclusions based on emotion. That is not thinking in my view.

The reason to think is not to justify conclusions already reached. We should think to seek the truth while entertaining the possibility that we might reach a new conclusion. But if you are a liberal, you get to avoid reason altogether and just say "I just feel that way."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, Heather is not the only "headless" person employed at the J-T.