Once again, I am recycling an old piece, this one from June 2020, just when the pandemic was hitting its stride. There's nothing here about Covid, but there were other diseases — more metaphorical, but no less virulent — plaguing the land, and I felt that a little perspective was required. Interestingly, my takeoff point was Stephen Colbert, whose imminent removal from late night TV is a natural result of the myths expressed here, and whose indelible declaration — see below — will live on forever. “Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” - Stephen Colbert, 2006 One of the longest running fictions regularly trotted out by conservative propagandists is that of liberal bias in the media and the classroom. Through incessant repetition, mostly by bad faith actors, this has somehow become received wisdom, despite being utter nonsense. To be sure, both journalism and academia are rife with liberals. But is it a coincidence that ...
Life and Politics in the Age of Covid