Michael Kinsley Drives Ezra Klein into Shrillness
Ezra Klein writes:
Ezra Klein: Interesting!!: Michael Kinsley offers this throwaway line in an otherwise fun review of Hitchens' new book:
Under the unwritten and somewhat eccentric rules of American public discourse, a statement that contradicts everything you have ever said before is considered for that reason to be especially sincere, courageous and dependable...
It's remarkable that prominent journalists will simply admit that an easy way to attract a reputation for intellectual independence is to engage in an endless series of ideological repositionings, and this does not appear to give them pause. All due acclaim to Kinsley for writing it, but this is actually a problem, not just an endearing quirk in a noble profession. Kinsley, in fact, goes onto explain how Hitchens has made a career out of exploiting this loophole...
Shrill, Ezra, but not quite shrill enough. For Kinsley explains how he also made a career out of exploiting this loophole, and then found himself with a problem:
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything - Christopher Hitchens - Books - Review - New York Times: At The New Republic in the 1980s, when I was the editor, we used to joke about changing our name to “Even the Liberal New Republic,” because that was how we were referred to whenever we took a conservative position on something, which was often. Then came the day when we took a liberal position on something and we were referred to as “Even the Conservative New Republic.” As this example illustrates, among writers about politics, the surprise technique usually means starting left and turning right. Trouble is, you do this once and what’s your next party trick?...
Get shriller, Ezra.