The “Moronification Factor”

The other day, I ran across a column in the National Post penned by CFRB Radio’s afternoon talk-jock, John Moore.

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Moore, who is the National Post’s token (L)liberal, was waxing poetic about how cool he and his friends were in being able to see the THE TRUTH and how most people who disagreed with their point of view were, um, not of sound mind. Moore’s column, entitled “Buying the absurd” began as follows: “A recent survey revealed that 23% of Briton’s (sic) believe Winston Churchill is a myth.” It then segued from there to wondering how it could possibly be that 25% of Americans expressed “very strong” support for President George W. Bush in a 2005 poll despite Hurricane Katrina, the Iraq War, the growing deficit, the sliding dollar and America’s general global unpopularity. Moore claimed to have found the answer on Kung Foo Monkey, the blog of comedian John Rogers, who ascribed the whole thing to what he calls “The Crazification Factor”. According to this theory, the 27% of percent of people who voted for Alan Keyes in the 2004 Illinois Senatorial race, rather than Barack Obama were crazy, or as Roberts put it in his blog “plainly, obviously...Bats—t crazy. Head-trauma crazy”. I suppose that’s one way of looking at it and no doubt it’s valid if you happen to be among those few cognoscenti who are in possession of The Answer, as John Moore and his friends appear to be. Moore goes on in the column to talk about how he is exposed to the crazies each and every day on his radio program, as many callers seem to have the oddest and craziest notions. There’s the notion that global warming is an “elaborate hoax created by liberals to bring about a one-world government.” Then there’s the notion that Muslims are a threat to our way of life. Or the notion that something is wrong with homosexuality. Moore even marvels at those who view “being wrong about global warming...as some kind of civil right.” He proudly writes that in being able to identify the Crazification Factor he is both comforted and humbled. His comfort comes from the belief that if people don’t believe what he believes, then they are impervious to logic and hence he is relieved of a “duty to reason with them”. Humbled because he lives in a society where even crazies are allowed to vote The problem with Moore’s view of society is indicative of a problem recently identified by Jonah Goldberg, contributing editor to the National Review and author of the recently released book Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning. Moore is a fascist, a liberal fascist, but nevertheless a dyed-in-the-wool fascist. His ready dismissal of anyone who holds views that differ with his as being “crazy” are indicative of just how far he has descended, when he uses strategies perfected by the Soviets and the Chinese Communist to stifle dissent. What next? Do we send those who disagree with Moore and his cohort to an insane asylum, as was common practice in the Soviet Union? Do we send them to re-education camps as the Chinese do so that they may emerge enlightened to the level of agreement with Moore? Global warming is based in science and last I checked science was about the pursuit of truth, no matter where it led. Are we to lock up scientists who discover evidence contrary to what John Moore and the UN would want us to believe? I don’t know if Muslims are a threat to our society, but I do know that the thousands of suicide bombings that have transpired over the past two decades were largely perpetrated by Muslims. There is even some evidence that the 9/11 attacks had something to do with Muslims, as did the Madrid and the London bombings. Is it wrong to wonder if this trend will continue and if it is becoming a threat to our society? While as a society we have extended every right and courtesy to those whose sexual orientation differs from the mainstream, is it wrong to wonder if we are going too far? Should we extend extra rights to gays because they have historically been marginalized or is it a thought crime to wonder out loud? The problem with those of John Moore’s ilk is that they are so convinced of the righteousness of their beliefs that there is no room left for reasoned discourse. Hence Moore no longer “has a duty to reason with dissenters”. Moore may be on to something when he talks about the crazies, but it is equally true that those who are ironbound and unbending in their beliefs have minds that won’t travel very far. And if your mind doesn’t travel very far because it’s unbending, then you are a moron. At least crazy people are known to change their mind now and then, which is something morons don’t often do.