• The Crisis of Credit Visualized
• Intellectualism vs gimmick
• "Stop talking about it."
• "Obama Cartoon": It's all about the framing...
• Open Fields Doctrine
• But in here it's so delightful - thoughts on Obama and the weather
• Protectionism: Everybody stimulate yourself!
• I like the pictures
• Mandela, King, Gandhi... Blagojevich
• Shovels are so 1933
• The cutting edge is nipping at its own tail
• Funny Because It's True (yet again)
• Obligatory Gaza
• Being Reasonable--reaction from the Muslim family recently thrown off a flight by AirTrain
• Won't you be my neighbor?

• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008
• August 2008
• July 2008
• June 2008
• May 2008
• April 2008
• March 2008
• February 2008
• January 2008
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007
• February 2007
• January 2007
• December 2006
• November 2006
• October 2006
• September 2006
• August 2006
• July 2006
• June 2006
• May 2006
• April 2006
• March 2006
• February 2006
• January 2006
• December 2005
• November 2005
• October 2005
• September 2005
• August 2005
• July 2005
• June 2005

« "Stop talking about it." | Main | The Crisis of Credit Visualized »

Intellectualism vs gimmick

"Talley" at Fr33 Agents posted this video clip of Rob Kampia, the co-founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project, on the Glenn Beck program.

I am sharing it here because it seems to support my point in an ongoing debate with Rammage about intellectualism vs gimmick in the present and future of the Right. Glenn Beck identifies himself in this clip as a libertarian, and then proceeds to display a complete inability to have an intellectual conversation about legalization of marijuana. He just does cartoon voices and tries to belittle anybody he doesn’t agree with. He is bereft of facts, and he is a bufoon. In contrast, Kampia is dull and dry and not entertaining, but he’s got an intellectual argument about the topic at hand. Personally, I find that much more valuable. I see nothing redeeming in Beck’s performance here, and I don’t understand why people who care about the future of the Right would want to encourage Beck-like behavior.

Sorry, Rammage. I think the Right needs Joe the Plumber as a panelist on a CPAC Conservatism 2.0 Conference (“Activists, bloggers, students and scholars discussing new media strategies to shape the future of conservatism”) about as much as we need a William Buckley, Jr. to fix our leaky faucets. It’s not that Joe the Plumber or Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck are bad people, or even that they are necessarily wrong on the issues. It’s that the anti-intellectualism that fuels their popularity is as unnecessary and non-compelling coming from the Right as it is coming from the Left.

When the Right embraces anti-intellectualism, it signals to young aspiring intellectuals that their home is in the Liberal Elite. Is that where we want our brightest young people? What message do you think they get when they see the Right championed by the likes of Glenn "there's two brain cells up in my head" Beck?

Yes, there is certainly a place for the average Joe, and in fact the Right should arguably mostly be average Joes. But they shouldn't be the ones at the vanguard of policy debates or even necessarily running for high office. To suggest that the average Joe is the best option is to suggest that he has something that a conservative or libertarian intellectual does not, and I reject that argument. Ought we not to find the people who have that something, plus intellect? Isn't that the best future for the Right?