Sunday, August 03, 2003
(3:43 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
So you'd like to...
I was browsing through Amazon just now, and I clicked on one of their generalized links to "Social Theory." So you guys know: clicking those generalized links is worse than useless. All it gives you is a bunch of mass-market, popularized pseudo-intellectualism. Still, I clicked it, hoping to see something intelligent in the top fifty. I clicked on some book that talked about the complex of those in government who feel that they are "anointed" and use all manner of tautologous "logic" to justify thier policies, which they take to be the self-evident solution to all America's problems, even though they make things worse. No, they weren't talking about the Bush administration: they were talking about ... wait for it... liberals!!! That's right: those omnipresent, utterly thoughtless, inflexible, crypto-Stalinist liberals are dragging our society down through their socialistic policies that defy the plain logic of supply-side economics and color-blind class-based discrimination.
Soon I was sucked down into the black hole of the neoconservative Listmania circle jerk, in which Hayek is the only "real" intellectual to be found (aside from Ayn Rand, of course). I usually participate in the continental philosophy circle jerk, so I was really out of my element. Since Amazon picks out related lists baseds solely on similarities between the products on lists, very often you will find negative lists. I would estimate that perhaps a quarter of all continental philosophy lists are about how fake and obscure all continental philosophy is and about how everyone who likes it is a poseur who just wants to look smart by reading stuff that most people can't understand. Strangely, in the conservative ghetto of Listmania, I did not find any really negative lists, except for those that were negative toward liberals (and thus were fundamentally in accord with the "Heidegger-as-stupid" camp), while still obviously only listing books that toe the neoconservative line (I saw a couple lists that featured Pat Buchanan; I'll report back later if I discover a paleoconservative Listmania circle). Surprisingly enough, most neoconservative "thinkers" apparently do not read the books of their opponents.
Imagine my joy, then, when I found a list entitled "So you'd like to... Become an Idiot!" You'd think that some conservative somewhere would have made a similar list of liberal books, entitling it "So you'd like to... Hate America," but apparently not. Okay, I just got an idea -- I am actually going to make that guide. I'm so funny. Read the one I've linked to, just to pass the time until I update this post with a link to my custom-tailored America-hating list.
UPDATE: Here's my official guide, aptly entitled "So you'd like to... Hate America." I went a little overboard and had to cut some stuff in order to publish this explosive expose of the cowardice and treachery of the American left, but I think my message still rings loud and clear.
Let freedom ring!
At this point, I think I've offically made too many lists on Amazon.
