Paul Krugman's Defining Moment
This was my comment on Paul Krugman's blog entry today defining moment. I'll provide the link momentarily.
Tom
My defining moment came during the Vietnam War when I realized the government's explanation of what was happening in Vietnam was not accurate. It was compounded when I found out that Lyndon Johnson had snookered the American people and the Congress with his Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. It's a shame that during the run-up to the Iraq so many people ignored, ridiculed, and berated those of us who were ware we were being conned. It's a sad commentary on the level of education in the United States that so many people fell for the Bush/Cheney propaganda line. However, I'm proud to say that many of my 9th and 10th grade students in 2002-3 were able to correctly analyze Colin Powell's speech to the UN as being inaccurate. They did this by reading the foreign press online. Also, let's honor the millions of people around the world who took to the streets on February 15, 2003 to try to prevent Bush's "March to Folly" in Iraq.
Tom
My defining moment came during the Vietnam War when I realized the government's explanation of what was happening in Vietnam was not accurate. It was compounded when I found out that Lyndon Johnson had snookered the American people and the Congress with his Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. It's a shame that during the run-up to the Iraq so many people ignored, ridiculed, and berated those of us who were ware we were being conned. It's a sad commentary on the level of education in the United States that so many people fell for the Bush/Cheney propaganda line. However, I'm proud to say that many of my 9th and 10th grade students in 2002-3 were able to correctly analyze Colin Powell's speech to the UN as being inaccurate. They did this by reading the foreign press online. Also, let's honor the millions of people around the world who took to the streets on February 15, 2003 to try to prevent Bush's "March to Folly" in Iraq.
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http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/the-defining-moment/
April 24, 2009 1:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Defining and Redefining Moments
Paul Krugman says "I’ll never trust “sensible” opinion again," and here "sensible" either means "mainstream," or nothing.
The usual meaning of "sensible" as "indicative of good sense" obviously doesn't apply to arguments for invading Iraq based on transparently false allegations. Any possible connection with "common sense" is also inappropriate, where the sort of evidence which common sense can judge never appeared.
So Professor Krugman can only mean that he will never trust mainstream opinion again, but because he writes for a mainstream newspaper, and wants to continue in his current venue, he can't say that he will never trust mainstream opinion again, because that would make him a "freak," and he would inevitably disappear from the New York Times, because the New York Times doesn't publish "freaks."
April 25, 2009 12:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Sensible" opinion is opinion issuing from "serious" people employed by, among others, the Brookings Institution, namely:
April 25, 2009 2:00 AM | Reply | Permalink
I thought this post and today's column were among his best. My reaction to the post was "yes, yes, yes" because I remember vividly the feeling of frustration I felt while it was happening.
Isn't it sad that not only were your students better able to judge than many adults were, but even worse they had to read the *foreign* press online to get information. Or maybe I really mean scary, not sad...
April 24, 2009 2:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Krugman hit the nail on the head about culpability in Washington. This issue will be a test of the democratic party and our country as a whole.
April 24, 2009 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I went and found my rose color glasses so that I could respond. The gov't had the bully pulpit and used it to lashed out to those who did protest. The main stream media bought what Bush was selling. The blogosphere was just gaining momentum. So the question is, could we be snookered again? My hope is no, because now we have more streams of information readily available to us. So update your computer to receive at least one foreign paper along with all the other news that you get delivered to your desktop each morning. Now, back to reality!
April 25, 2009 12:05 PM | Reply | Permalink