Conventional wisdom isn’t too wise—by Harris R. Sherline

• Terrorism is best addressed by U.S. disarmament, negotiation, law enforcement and foreign aid.
• Nick Berg’s death was the fault of the American military.
• Abu Ghraib is an indictment of American culture.
• The Israelis are the real villains in the Middle East.
• People in other countries hate us for good reason.
• Islam is a religion of peace.
• Truth is relative and facts are not reliable.
• Columbine was the fault of the military industrial complex and the NRA.
• Racism is a Republican pastime.
• Most of the problems in the world can be laid at the doorstep of white American males.
• Hollywood is enlightened.
• Violence begets violence, except on TV and in movies and contemporary music.
• We invaded Iraq primarily to secure access to oil.
• It is criminal to expect people to work, earn a living, take care of their families and take responsibility for their own actions.
• Capitalism is obviously inferior to socialism.
• The American Republic is a failed democracy.
• 9/11 was something America deserved for her crimes against the third world.
• The U.N. will save us.
• Europeans are smarter and more sophisticated than Americans.
• President Bush, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Condolezza Rice and Colin Powell are all liars.
• The earth is warming so we need to shut down industry and ride bicycles.
• The spotted owl is more important than jobs and wood products for home building and thousands of other products.
• Castro is just trying to do the right thing. If he has done anything wrong, it’s America’s fault.
• The killing fields in Cambodia were America’s fault.
• Sudan is America’s fault.
• The Israelis are squatters. They created a Palestinian ghetto.
• We should try to understand Hamas and Hezbollah because after all they are simply trying to free the faultless Palestinians.
• Americans are the bad guys.
• Christians are bigots.
• Radical Muslims are just different.
• The real reason for the Patriot Act is to erode our civil rights so the Republicans can take over.
• Republicans manipulate election results by electronically manipulating polling places.
• There is a vast right wing conspiracy to rule the world.
• Rwanda was just a misunderstanding, a lack of information, and confusion about the definition of “genocide.”
• Hillary Clinton would make a great president, because, well…just because, and she’s a woman.
• Tax cuts are only for the wealthy.
• Criminals just need more understanding.
• Entitlement programs emerging out of Johnson’s Great Society will solve the poverty problem.
• Who needs God when we have our own brains to rely upon!
• Public education should be in the exclusive hands of the NEA because they have master’s degrees.
• Everything is relative.
• Truth is an illusion.
• If you’re wealthy, you’re a pirate.
• There is no such thing as evil, except making a profit in business.
• Vietnam was Nixon’s war.
• God is a crutch manufactured by the intellectually lame.
• People in the Third World are always right so long as they oppose America.
• Tolerance is paramount, but it’s rational to be intolerant of conservatives and Christians because they’re either nuts or selfish or both.
• Diversity is to be celebrated as long as you agree with us.
• If you disagree with leftist philosophies you are an uneducated moron.
• This item appeared at American Daughter Media Center, July 13, 2011.  Harris was 85 in 2008, so I’m hoping he’s still writing, because there’s a lot of knowledge about conventional wisdom there.