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If I start to write on this essay in Salon by Fred Jerome [2] I’ll likely never stop: it’s that bad. This essay is a cascade of fallacies and absurdities, many of which were popular in the 19th century and that have been refuted time and again by scholars [3] – and also, in several cases, exposed as calamitous when put into practice. (I don’t believe that Mr. Jerome caught the irony of his publishing a socialist call to nationalize the media – a call that of course contains the standard left-wing complaint about the alleged demise of media competition – in Salon. Nor do I believe that he caught the irony of the fact that he is calling explicitly for a government-enforced complete monopolization of the media.)
I find it 10 percent amusing, 40 percent sad, and 50 percent frightening that people such as Mr. Jerome still exist and write in major outlets. Unlike him, though, I have no interest in using government, or any form of coercion, to silence the voices or to still the pens of people, such as him, whose ideas I find faulty, repugnant, and dangerous.
I recommend a couple of stiff drinks before reading this essay. I made the mistake of reading it while sober.
(HT George White)