Liberals, Fox News Knows Our Weakness

So, it's true that many liberals are patronizing, sanctimonious jackasses. It's hard not to be patronizing when we're so clearly right most of the time, but the trouble always has been that we're not just patronizing about the stuff we're right about--it's better to be good to each other than to our wallets, our commander in chief misled us into war, Andrew Dice Clay never was that funny--we're patronizing about shit that doesn't matter, like where people live. There's a reason that "liberal elite" caught on so quickly. Not because liberals in general think we're better than everyone else, but that it's clear that there's a noisy faction of us who thinks that, if you don't live on one of the coasts, you live in a vast cultural wasteland that must only be observed from either up in a plane or while being guarded by folks who will show you what the local customs are, but protect you from actual locals. Once you become acutely aware of this coastal elitism (and, if you watch any Hollywood movie about the center of the country, how can you not think that we're all semi-retarded, even if we might be nice enough), I just don't think it's such a short leap from "coastal elite" to "liberal elite," even if such a leap is unfortunate. Former Fox producer, Charlie Reina outlines the clever ways Fox News helps folks make such a leap, especially by manufacturing some "war" against Christmas. Joe Conason has a nice take on this nonsense as well. I especially like his closing paragraph:

Honoring old traditions, respecting newer arrivals and maintaining constitutional freedoms is often difficult. The important thing is to seek that balance in a spirit of kindness and decency rather than promoting anger and suspicion. For those who profess to honor the prince of peace, particularly at this time of year, that ought to be obvious.