Be Careful What You Read

Former NPR producer Paul Beston writes at WaTi, Feb. 27, about how he saw the error of his liberal ways:

.... My main responsibility was to distill guests' books into a few single-spaced pages and write interview questions for Larry that he could accept or reject while adding his own. As part of my job, I read omnivorously in the conservative literature — books, periodicals and the Web sites that were coming online.

Larry had print subscriptions to just about everything, from Reason to Crisis. The piles of conservative magazines lay around my workspace like a stack of Hustler in Saudi Arabia, daring me to look inside. Opening the pages of National Review or Commentary for the first time gave a certain thrill of heresy.

It quickly became clear that my understanding of conservatism was a cartoon. The writers took perfectly reasonable positions and argued them with eloquence. Always, there was the sense of limits to what one could hope for — and the warning that taking action could make things worse instead of better. After my years in the fervent environs of the left, the sober skepticism of the conservatives was very appealing. I couldn't help but think that many of my fellow liberals had, like me, assiduously avoided coming in contact with their arguments. That was easy to do in New York City....

(Thanks, Jennifer.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 03/30/04 06:36:44 PM
Categorized as Social/Cultural.