Prefab Conservatism, ctd.
Conor has a definition:
In construction, a prefabricated house is produced in a factory, shipped out to building sites, and assembled by folks unequipped to design anything better.
The prefab conservative, or prefab-con, brings the same attitude to political discourse: rather than using reason and critical thinking to craft arguments that fit the real world, he trots out prefabricated memes, arguments and conclusions that are passably functional at best. All too often, they are even worse: the typical prefabcon lives in an intellectual house of ugly, wobbly walls that collapse on themselves in slight gusts. Undaunted, he throws up another structure on the same spot, though that wolf named reality is standing right there, ready to huff and puff again.
… and a classic example:
Here’s my favorite line, though:
[John McCain’s presidential campaign] came along just as the bubble market for prefab conservatism burst — not that it stopped Sarah Palin from throwing up the intellectual equivalent of double-wide trailers in every unscripted interview she gave.
The whole thing is quite enjoyable.
Filed under: conservatism, media/culture, politics
How sad and true. Then again, we’d be remiss to not point out that the same prefab set of arguments exists on the left as well. I encounter prefab cons and libs all the time. The arguments are equally inflexible and unoriginal regardless of which side of the political spectrum you’re debating against.
I’m starting to think the Prefabs have a mental disorder. I stopped watching the news media because I grew tired of it. It is for people that want to learn a list of things to be self righteous and angry about then indulge in repeating it. I’m worried that it is a widespread disease.
The hardball interview with Kevin James cracked me up. It reminds me of the Crossfire interview with John Stewart because in both cases the guilty parties sought to evade what was obvious.
[...] Schwenkler [...]
That piece is priceless but someone should be keeping an archive of such things.
In the old days, Edwin Neuman of NBC would occasionally demolish someone in like fashion. I remember him treating the late Georgie Jessell like a pan handler once. Another time he was confronted with an early version of Martha Stewart, who was putting bananas in the fridge. Predictably, they looked awful with their contents liquefied. Neuman hesitated a moment before speaking and commented that “They look like they were full of pus”