I was going to write a post in reaction to Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler’s fact-checking of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks on wages and inequality but I decided that would break my long-standing aversion to criticizing other people’s choices. The people of the Bronx are entitled to elect any tomfool candidate they care to and that’s that.
I did notice that James Joyner’s reaction was that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez is another step on a slippery slope of fact-free or even fact-averse politics. I’m not sure that’s what’s happening. I suspect it’s more that in an increasingly visual culture decreasingly able to understand abstract principles or follow logical arguments, that’s what you get. You can’t even discuss morality because there’s just no common ground. Are they deontological or teleological thinkers? I think neither. The standard of morality is whatever seems right to them.
The greater problem is a culture which accepts as fact the opinions of people because, in the words of James Joyner, they are “professionals in good standing.” Neither he nor anyone else commenting at that hellblasted landscape of a blog bothered to check Kessler’s source, a paper paid for by Wal-mart that’s thirteen years old. None of them noticed Kessler misquoted Ocasio-Cortez, nor did they seem to understand any argument that begins “economic theory generally holds” is an opinion.
It’s also possible Joyner is trolling his readers, but the sheer gullibility of the remaining few of the OTB crowd really demonstrates how far it’s fallen. Used to be a place for a good argument.
It has been enjoyable trolling them with their own hypocrisy, although even that is wearing.
I clicked over to see OTB hasn’t changed much, especially the comment section. I’ve given up on that blog except for the occasional Joyner piece and some of Taylor’s stuff on the weekends.