Your Email:

Subject:

Message:
Entry: Sometimes a Hamburger Is Just a Hamburger Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/sometimes_a_hamburger_is_just_a_hamburger#3012 Post contents: "...shouldn’t we paleocons be free not only to choose not to patronize Wal-Mart, McDonald’s, and Microsoft, but also to convince others to do likewise?" The preceding comment by Mr. Richert hits the heart of the discussion. If a liberal says something I find inane, and I write an essay dissecting said inanity, the liberal frequently responds by saying, "What, are you trying to censor me? Don't I have the freedom to say what I want?" Which is true -- except that the liberal forgets that just as he has the right to speak, I have the right to retort. I hope the analogy is obvious. That is, the liberal equates criticism of faulty reasoning with advocating censorship, just as some libertarians equate paleo warnings about the effects of the corporate world with paleos advocating intervention on the part of the socialist hand of government. All that is said with all due respect to Mr. Raimondo, for whose work I have very high regard and whom I would certainly not compare to the average postmodern liberal. (The analogy is only for the purpose of illustration.) OK, free-market of freely-choosing individuals, fine; but we as individuals must also retain the freedom to condemn and lament the ugly and dehumanizing, yes? And to persuade our fellow-citizens to turn away from the ugly and the dehumanizing? Sent at: 2008 12 01