The Terror Of Civility

Brian Leiter argues that there is an "excess of civility" today in North America:

...civility is the greatest gift one can bestow on the creationist conmen, the right-wing liars, and the religious bigots--not to mention the hordes of ignorant blowhards in the blogosphere.  To treat their positions with civility is to already legitimate them.  The consequence of doing so is now available for all the world to see:  the intellectually and morally depraved state of public culture in America today.

Well, nobody is civil in the blogosphere these days. And that is why blogs are good: calling it what it is. There is nothing civil in this must-read piece:

In his new piece the prolific Mr. Bageant (whose forthcoming book, from Crown, is entitled Drink, Pray, Fuck, Fight) examines the ongoing abandonment of the liberal left by working-class Americans. "We in the United States are easily the most brainwashed population on earth, when it comes to being exposed to an extremely sophisticated flood of calculated misinformation. Without changing that, we can never win"

(From King of Zembla, hat tip:Paperwight)