Monday, April 29, 2013

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.

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