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Wednesday, November 7, 2007 12:00 AM

The Internet is making us stupid

Legal sage Cass Sunstein says democracy is the first casualty of political discourse in the digital age.

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  • Thursday, November 8, 2007 11:27 AM

    Classic argument-shifting

    "There's a lot of echo-chamber-ism on both sides, and I don't know that it's worse on one side or the other right now."

    Right. He doesn't know if Fox News is worse than liberal blogs. This is classic argument-shifting. Instead of addressing the argument that says that the right-wing used media outlets like Fox News to distort the facts used to justify war or to Swift Boat Kerry, say "well, liberals distort facts, too." Instead of countering arguments about this administration's malfeasance, ineptitude, and poor judgment, say "why are you being so partisan, why can't you listen to the other side?"

    You know why I, as a liberal, don't listen to "other voices" like Fox News or Bill O'Reilly? Because they spin facts like they're children playing with tops. Saying that liberals should "see the other side" of an argument that defends the Iraq war, warrant-less spying on Americans, Abu Grahib (which Limbaugh likened to fraternity hazing) and Guantanamo, and increased executive power is just another way of defending the status quo and marginalizing people who oppose it. I can and do listen to the other side, but not the part of it that consistently defends what is indefensible.

    Just because there are two sides to every argument doesn't mean that every argument is equal or worthy of consideration.

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