So now it's time for more of our trademark irreverence.
Guilt By Association
There's an underlying issue behind all the media attention The Patriot and similar groups have been getting recently (see NYT and TPM). Conservative organizations on campuses across the nation are being hastily grouped into the same category as radical activists. It's a rather unfortunate misapplication of the transitive property.
Yes, The Patriot is at the heart of the conservative and libertarian movement at GW, much like other right-leaning papers at Universities across the country. But contrary to the way such groups have been presented in the media and tied to the actions of rabblerousers gone wrong, ours is an intellectual movement.
We are indeed irrevent towards the legions of comfortable campus liberals, whose smugly misguided ideology of poltical correctness is akin to willful ignorance. But in numerous media outlets, The Patriot and others are being accused by association of fostering radicalized tactics. It's time to fight back.
Yes, The Patriot is at the heart of the conservative and libertarian movement at GW, much like other right-leaning papers at Universities across the country. But contrary to the way such groups have been presented in the media and tied to the actions of rabblerousers gone wrong, ours is an intellectual movement.
We are indeed irrevent towards the legions of comfortable campus liberals, whose smugly misguided ideology of poltical correctness is akin to willful ignorance. But in numerous media outlets, The Patriot and others are being accused by association of fostering radicalized tactics. It's time to fight back.
Liberal media outlets would have you believe through insinuation that conservative student organizations comprise some kind of dirty underworld, where we learn to spy on people, hate women and wiretap government officials.
Subtle attempts have been made to associate The Patriot with such tactics. I'm concerned that conservative student organizations, including the Patriot, are being assigned at least some modicum of guilt by association in the media. But in fact, the Landrieu case bears no semblance to anything that's going on here at GW. So before we submit to the liberal media's version of instant history, we need to stand up for our cause and explain our position.
A Tale of Two Alumni
Subtle attempts have been made to associate The Patriot with such tactics. I'm concerned that conservative student organizations, including the Patriot, are being assigned at least some modicum of guilt by association in the media. But in fact, the Landrieu case bears no semblance to anything that's going on here at GW. So before we submit to the liberal media's version of instant history, we need to stand up for our cause and explain our position.
A Tale of Two Alumni
Further support for this claim is found in the story of another Patriot alumnus.
John McCormack. He's an intrepid reporter for the Weekly Standard who frequently influences the national conversation. McCormack was involved in two major stories this year, one concerning Dede Sozzafava and another a pushy Martha Coakley staffer. As an editor at the Patriot, McCormack was at the forefront of determining the ideological position of conservatives on campus. He pushed the envelope, but didn't take it too far. His example - that of stirring up debate and starting conversations, is what the Patriot is all about.
We dont hold protests, we don't do guerilla journalism; we're all about challenging conventional liberal thought through intellectual discourse and tough questions. Expose liberals and get to the truth. Add a pinch of humor. Stir. It's what we do.
A Steady Diet of Academic Liberalism
Again, from the Times:
We dont hold protests, we don't do guerilla journalism; we're all about challenging conventional liberal thought through intellectual discourse and tough questions. Expose liberals and get to the truth. Add a pinch of humor. Stir. It's what we do.
A Steady Diet of Academic Liberalism
Again, from the Times:
Mr. O’Keefe came to believe that conservative-leaning students were being force-fed a diet of academic liberalism. As he put it at the time, they were “drowned in relativism, concepts of distributive justice and redistribution of wealth.”
Well, college students ARE being force fed a diet of academic liberalism. A vast majority of professors here are liberal, and they don't keep it a secret, either.
The GW College Democrats got a Pyramid Award for "Student Organization of the Year" last year despite their desecration of Young America's Foundation's crosses.
And then there's the whole "lets fake 100,000 hours of community service to get Michelle Obama to speak at our graduation" ruse. She'd be the third liberal in a row to keynote the ceremony, following Rahm Emmanuel and Julian Bond. It makes you wonder: is the University is pushing community service for its own sake, or for Michelle Obama?
Political Correctness Reductio Ad Absurdum
It's a matter of technique, really. Our methods are intellectually provocative; we make people think, take notice. We reduce liberal arguments to their naturally extreme absurdities. We draw out the implications of what our opponents say, so as to highlight their inimicable attitude toward ideas of liberty, free markets and free speech. The Patriot criticizes everything from liberal tax schemes to conservative events gone wrong.
But the Times conveniently lumped together actions like "taping classes, lectures and other campus events in the hopes of catching professors and others in moments of excessive political correctness or other embarrassments" and ‘tak[ing] on the politically correct crowd on campus, satirically" with their version of Lousisiana Watergate.
Is it wrong to tape your professor? Is it wrong to fight against excessive political correctness? Does questioning orthodoxy in such ways constitute radical tatics? Not really.
Here's the point: don't paint campus conservatives with the same brush. Tactics matter.
Yes, we engage our readers by using a common argumentative tool of reductio ad absurdum, and we try to inject a little wit into the equation. Huge revelation, there.
So is there anything wrong with that? What's next, will the politically correct crowd no longer permit us to say that liberals want to tax everyone to death and abort babies as Homeland Security Secretary Janet Incompetano cavity searches everyone for WMDs?
It's like anything concievably risque on this campus goes unsaid, and it's a culture enforced by the monarchs of politcal correctness over at the Hatchet. If you're not 110% PC about it, conservatism is like a double plus ungood thoughtcrime on this campus. The poltical correctness in the air is so thick, you could almost choke on it. I'm sure it's the same at many universities.
It's like anything concievably risque on this campus goes unsaid, and it's a culture enforced by the monarchs of politcal correctness over at the Hatchet. If you're not 110% PC about it, conservatism is like a double plus ungood thoughtcrime on this campus. The poltical correctness in the air is so thick, you could almost choke on it. I'm sure it's the same at many universities.
"Isn't political correctness beautiful - it's so tolerant and inoffensive," liberals happily muse.
No. It's the destruction of words.
Irreverence is the Champion of Liberty
Like it or not, we hope our writing at least gets you thinking about the issue in a different way. We don't kowtow to the political correctness czars, but we sure do know how to make you laugh. Satire and humor combined with a serious analysis of the issues at hand is a winning combination for readers like you. There's a higher goal to our approach.
And so before they kill us with their kindness, liberals should note:
Irreverence is the champion of liberty. - Mark Twain
Let the record show that being irreverent is completely distinct from the tactics described in the Times article. When a sturdy intellectual argument is paired with wit, our case becomes stronger. We will never abandon that tactic, no matter who tells us to shut up.
We'll never let the politcally correct masses of liberals define for us what is unsavory and what isn't. The scale of what is allowed under politically correct dogma is not for the them to decide. It's a trap, and some conservatives keep falling for it.
The New York Times is right about one thing. The Patriot is irreverent; it's our biggest weapon in the intellectual fight for principles of liberty.
8 comments:
You guys and other right wing blogs like you are getting the criticism you deserve for every employing people who would sink to the level of Nixon and try to bug peoples offices to blackmail them later. Not surprisingly people like Limbaugh and Coulter are defending this idiot and whats his name McCormack who, if you look at the video closely was getting VERY close to that candidate that he was stalking. Anyways, shame on you guys
Shame on Jews guys
the attempt of the media to make a connection between 1960's radical college liberals and college conservatives standing against the current administration and democrats is erroneous and because so will never gain steam as a valid comparison.
I want everyone's opinion on the PC Hatchet, they screen their comments and... Anon2's probably would have been deleted haha
Anonymous #1... I can understand not wanting to put your name on that post. Your argument makes no sense at all.
BOTH parties have idiots who are willing to do idiotic things for their party.
As far as "what we deserve" you might as well blame all of Dai's political science profs at GW as well for this...
No, we are not reverent to the silly political correctness set forth by guilty liberals. Political correctness is just a way to control and limit thought.
"A vast majority of professors here are liberal, and they don't keep it a secret, either."
Yeah, we should fire them all and hire all the conservative professors waiting in the wings.
I don't think the NY Times meant to compare this blog to the behavior of those individuals. I really feel like this whole post is a straw man.
But I think you're right to be proud of your irreverence.
Check out TPM, Meg. They definitely drew the comparison.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/gw-patriot/2010/01/
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The Patriot accepts anonymous comments [unlike the draconian editors at the Hatchet]. However, we strongly prefer that you USE A NAME. Mostly it's because we don't take anonymous comments seriously, but it's also because we hate bullshit. Have a nice day.