Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: David Brooks' shaky defense of liberalism

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: David Brooks' shaky defense of liberalism:

David Brooks' shaky defense of liberalism



David Brooks opens hisNYT Op-Ed piece this way: On New Year’s Eve some friends and family members had a drink at a bar in Tel Aviv...

I suppose this literary device is meant to assure the Netanyahu regime that he won't step on their toes in this column. He then goes on to attack rising Donald Trump-ism and call for a defense of cultural pluralism and an open society. Pretty tempting stuff. I'm definitely on board for both. 

Brooks writes:
In country after country this anxiety is challenging the liberal order. I mean philosophic Enlightenment liberalism, not partisan liberalism. It’s the basic belief in open society, free speech, egalitarianism and meliorism (gradual progress). It’s a belief that through reasoned conversation values cohere and fanaticism recedes. It’s the belief that people of all creeds merit tolerance and respect.
Fine words, Mr. Brooks. But it seems you have a blind spot or two. Did you look around that bar in Tel Aviv? Anyone excluded?
These liberal assumptions have been challenged from the top for years Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: David Brooks' shaky defense of liberalism: