[ExI] the myth of the US "liberal media"

[Kelly Anderson]

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 3:49 PM, Jeff Davis <jrd1415 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Sorry about coming late to the party.

> I thought this comment was valid, and a praiseworthy attribute of the
> list.  Kudos to all, and Kelly for noticing.

Thanks, I thought you were going to disembowel me... Much appreciated... :-)

>> While I'm not an anarchist, I would say I'm in that
>> neighborhood, just for comparison.
>
> It's a nice neighborhood.

I think so.

> Regarding Communism's "definitive inefficiency", I would like to point
> out that the Commies first had to fight the Whites, had to endure
> Stalin, had to defeat the Nazi war machine (in which case Stalin was a
> plus) , and then had to deal with the unrelenting hostility of the
> West.   Despite all these impediments, a backward Russia became
> something of a super power under the Commies, before the Commie system
> was retired.  and it took just 72 years.

Tsarist Russia was a powerhouse too. I think at the best the
communists came near to recovering their Tzarist stature, briefly.

> Ditto the Chink version of the Commie system.  Sixty-three years in, a
> billion dirt poor rice farmers are poised to become the preeminent
> economic power on the planet, taking over from the US of destitute A
> in what, the next decade?  Not too shabby, that.

When I visited China in 1987, it was pretty shabby. All the good stuff
you talk about has come from the capitalist reformation since the
early 80s... Giving communism the credit for China's economic well
being today doesn't strike me as particularly intellectually honest.

> And the Vietnamese Commies?  Well, they stood up to and outlasted
> (defeated?) the greatest military power the world has ever known.
> What's "inefficient" about that?

Nice jungles. ;-)

> I did -- and yes, still do -- a bit of this ideology thing in the
> past.  It's a fool's game.  I'm trying to get over it.  I'm all about
> technology now.

Technology over the long haul is WAY more important than short term
ideology. So we're in agreement there. I just think the best system
for developing technology involves a lot of freedom.

> You're here on the list to challenge us with your views -- thesis --
> and we're going to challenge you back with ours -- antithesis.  Out of
> which will arise the synthesis of tomorrows ideas.  Let's get on with
> it.
>
> Welcome to the list.

Thanks!

> Later on, you wrote:
>
> "My understanding is that the first leftist was Robin Hood. Steal from
> the rich give to the poor."
>
> Mmmmmmmm.  Tasty.
>
> Then regarding my self-characterization as progressive you wrote:
>
> "I assumed he meant it in the same sense Hillary Clinton uses
> progressive to define her position."
>
> That's just hurtful.  (Excellent snark!)

So you aren't a Clinton progressive... so what sort of progressive are
you then? I only know the one kind that started with T. Roosevelt and
W. Wilson.

-Kelly