Wednesday, September 28, 2016

IT'S SO NICE TO HAVE YOU BACK WHERE YOU BELONG.

Here's more evidence that Jonah Goldberg may be slowly coming out of his Trump funk. Who else in American letters would, in attempting to explain the power of (urgh) "narrative," come up with a passage like this -- not to mention leave it in:
President Obama understands this too. Just consider the way he talks about terrorism — often reassuring Americans that they’re more likely to die in a bathtub accident than in a terror attack.

And he’s right.

On the other hand, bathtubs aren’t trying to get nuclear weapons. Nor are bathtubs destabilizing the Middle East (often killing massive numbers of non-Americans) or otherwise plotting to conquer the world.
Thought experiment! There's a tornado coming! And your only hope of shelter is a local mosque! Sure, in a tornado you could get smashed like a mosquito -- but the Koran says you're a dhimmi, and in a room full of Muslims there's gotta be one who's gonna wanna dhimmi you up! At least the tornado has no ideology! What to do?

To be fair, Goldberg is trying to make a point about how narratives can be deceiving:
I’m not naive. Crafting stories to serve political purposes is as old as politics itself. But the problem seems to be getting worse.

Perhaps it’s because our country is so polarized and our media environment so balkanized and instantaneous. Politicians and journalists alike feel compelled to make facts serve some larger tale in every utterance.
You can take it from the author of Liberal Fascism! Ah, Jonah, it's been too long.

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