Fraters Libertas

Bias and Straw Men

For a fiery dissection of the bias inherent to the Star Tribune, check out this article from Fraters correspondent Gary Larson (“correspondent” meaning he corresponds with us occasionally, not that he’s on the payroll and manning our Linden Hills Bureau).

In a strange twist, he also appears to be railing against the bias inherent in the supporting cast of the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz. Excerpts from Mr. Larson:

Set up a straw man. Kick it. Rip it. Set it ablaze.

Naturally, straw men have no place in editorials or anywhere else. Period. They’re pernicious, doing harm to human dignity. .... dumbing-down not only deviancy, as Senator Daniel Patrick Moynahan (D-NY) famously said, but also of America itself.

That’s where Gary and I part ways in opinion (see - conservatives don’t have to agree on everything). Personally, I thought Ray Bolger’s performance was very good. His rendition of “If I Only Had a Heart” had real pathos and is of particular poignancy to this compassionate conservative on this Valentine’s Eve.

Gary’s article appeared in an Internet publication called The Intellectual Conservative. I’ve never heard of them before, but looks like we can all forget about reading National Review Online, Opinion Journal.com, Power Line, and Fraters Libertas from now on. Here’s their masthead tag line:

We are the only site on the web devoted exclusively to intellectual conservatism. We find the most intriguing information and bring it together on one page for you.

Is that marketing gone wild or do the publishers just not get out very often?