wretchard @ 4 “…the received conceit….”

A brilliant comment. The frustration in trying to talk to the left is that they have never had to examine their assumptions. They simply partake of the received wisdom…

The left has the cultural inheritance/backing, solidified over the past 30 years, that traces it lineage through Ken Kesey and the hippy movement of the 60s through Kerouac and the beats in the 50s and back to Henry Miller in the 40s and 30s. The dominant theme is, as poet Karl Shapiro wrote: “America, the air-conditioned nightmare.” Every time you hear a snide Joe Kleinish or NPRish ‘hate America’ or ‘it’s America’s fault’ report you can be sure this unquestioned legacy is in play. It make for a hellofa cultural backstop.

Think of the tiny crack of light that the director of ‘Hurt Locker’ opened the other night at the Oscars when she asked everyone ‘to remember all the men and women in uniform fighting for us.’