Conservative condescension: Projection and conservative victomology on parade--Part 5

by: Paul Rosenberg

Sun Feb 14, 2010 at 14:00

In Part I, I dealt with the introduction and transition of Gerard Alexander's WaPo commissioned editorial, "Why are liberals so condescending". In Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4, I dealt with the first three of the four liberal narratives Alexander cites as manifestations of so-called "liberal condescension." This diary deals with the fourth and last such narrative. A final diary will deal with the conlusion of Alexander's column.

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Alexander's fourth narrative is perhaps his most baffling:

Finally, liberals condescend to the rest of us when they say conservatives are driven purely by emotion and anxiety -- including fear of change -- whereas liberals have the harder task of appealing to evidence and logic.

What's baffling about it is that conservatives themselves have spent centuries now attacking liberals precisely for their reliance on reason, which conservatives have argued is far too frail an instrument to deal with the complexities of human affairs.