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Jewish World Review July 13, 2005 / 6 Taamuz, 5765 Being open-minded and liberal is not one and the same By John Stossel
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Where I work (in network TV) and live (on the Upper West Side of
Manhattan), people say "conservative" the way they say "child molester."
It's the worst thing to be called. Everyone here agrees: Conservatives are
repressive, while liberals are open-minded and think it's important to hear
a diverse range of voices.
Except, of course, if those voices aren't liberal.
Ironically, in the 19th century, liberals really did want to
hear new ideas. In 1869, it was a liberal who wrote, "the peculiar evil of
silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race
. . . those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it.
If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging
error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the
clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its
collision with error." John Stuart Mill argued that debating people you
disagree with was the only way to develop wisdom.
Compare today's so-called liberals.
I recently finished a tour for my book, "Give Me a Break."
Weirdly, the same month "Give Me a Break" came out, my publisher released a
book by my wife's ex-boyfriend.
My wife's ex became a regular on NPR and got on national shows,
like "Fresh Air." He was on CNN with Larry King and Paula Zahn, and on PBS
with Charlie Rose. He got four columns in the New York Times; my book was
never mentioned.
I shouldn't complain. I have plenty of airtime of my own, and
the conservatives were eager to talk. I got to discuss my ideas with dozens
of talk radio hosts, and on Fox News Channel, where Bill O'Reilly and Sean
Hannity have audiences CNN only dreams about. More people bought my book
than my wife's ex's.
But where was the "open debate" the liberals like to praise?
Mostly on the conservative broadcasts.
Conservative hosts had me on their programs even though some
loathed my hard-core libertarian ideas. Maybe it's because conservatives in
media are used to people disagreeing with them. In fact, if they live in New
York City, they are used to liberals shrieking at them. Few conservatives
wanted to spend much time debating drug prohibition (Sean Hannity was a rare
exception), but at least they heard me out.
I had thought liberal shows would have me on their programs to
trash my arguments. I looked forward to a spirited debate. But debate
rarely happened. Nearly every media invitation came from people who already
shared my belief in the free market. Those who didn't, didn't want to talk
about it.
I thought I'd have a shot at a fair debate with Al Franken
because we're acquaintances; our kids went to school together. No such luck.
He invited me to his studio, but he barely let me make an argument; instead
he ranted about a "lie" on page 305.
I did have had a wonderful time on Air America's "Morning
Sedition," with a host who was furious that government doesn't stop
Americans from eating too many Big Macs. I treasure the moment of silence
that followed my saying that government that's big enough to tell you what
to eat . . . is government big enough to tell you with whom you can have
sex.
That's the debate the media's supposed to advance.
I didn't find much of it in the "open-minded" liberal media.
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© 2005, by JFS Productions, Inc. Distributed by Creators Syndicate, Inc. |
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