Tuesday, October 28, 2003
Krugman: "a new, post 9/11 version of political correctness"
Doesn't it seem of late as though some journalists are starting to ask questions about the possible connection between the Bush administration's deep beholdenness to the evangelical Christian Right, and its increasingly crazy-looking and hard-to-explain foreign policy behavior? Supposedly 40% of the people who voted for Bush are "evangelicals." Now that's a frighteningly high number--but mightn't the Democrats want to think about how exposing the reality of that 40%--and the nature of the influence they wield--might help change the minds of some of the 60% non-evangelicals come election time? Why not go after the GOP where they're potentially quite vulnerable: maintaining the deceptions necessary to hold together this weird coalition of crazy theocrats and somewhat more mainstream people?
posted by Blicero : 10/28/2003 02:47:00 AM
A Willful Ignorance
By PAUL KRUGMAN
But there's something broader going on: a sort of willful ignorance, supposedly driven by moral concerns but actually reflecting domestic politics. Surely it's important to understand how others see us, but a new, post 9/11 version of political correctness has made it difficult even to discuss their points of view. Any American who tries to go beyond "America good, terrorists evil," who tries to understand — not condone — the growing world backlash against the United States, faces furious attacks delivered in a tone of high moral indignation. The attackers claim to be standing up for moral clarity, and some of them may even believe it. But they are really being used in a domestic political struggle.
Muslims are completely wrong to think that the U.S. is engaged in a war against Islam. But that misperception flourishes in part because the domestic political strategy of the Bush administration — no longer able to claim the Iraq war was a triumph, and with little but red ink to show for its economic plans — looks more and more like a crusade. "Election Boils Down to a Culture War" was the title of Mr. Fineman's column. But the analysis was all about abortion and euthanasia, and now we hear that opposition to gay marriage will be a major campaign theme. This isn't a culture war — it's a religious war.
posted by Blicero : 10/28/2003 02:47:00 AM
