To my amusement, a link to my last post about Keith Windschuttle cropped up in an anti-left love-in on Daily Telegraph journalist Tim Blair’s weblog. In between I’m-not-sorry-cos-I-didn’t-do-it screeds, one Windschuttle admirer described me as:
…a left-leaning blogger who encountered [Windschuttle’s] work at university and secretly holds respect for [him]. Thus proving that taking the war of words to your opponents is never futile, even if the gains made are modest, patchy or less than you would hope.
Zounds! Where do I turn in my pinko-leftie badge and gun? That my endorsement of Windschuttle’s views on historiography could be taken as support for his position on the Stolen Generation (which I perhaps-too-subtly withheld) only proves my point about the so-called History Wars — that there’s really no room for nuance of any kind, on right or left. Windschuttle’s work is interesting not because he confirms my preexisting prejudices — I have Robert Manne and David Marr for that — but because he forces me to pare back my political assumptions and approach the subject rationally. That was exactly the point of my last piece (which Yosh, for one, had no trouble picking up on): that we should try to stand above the crossfire of recrimination peppering the trenches of the culture wars, and make up our own minds. And this view — like the belief in free speech or a free press — is hardly reactionary, although the New Left radicalism of the academy, fearing human weakness and the unruly fluidity of words, may have retrospectively made it so. Not that I’m complaining — thanks to an unknown Windschuttle fan, my blog has been pushed over teh 1000 views!!!!1!!
And I had more reasons to be happy this evening. Geelong has started the NAB Cup just as it finished off last year: in devastating fashion, thrashing the Demons by 72 points at Skilled Stadium earlier today. With Tom Lonergan and the Tomahawk on the rise, the only thing standing between the Cats and another piece of silverware is Cam Mooney’s aggression, Steve Johnson’s need for speed and the ever-constant threat of injuries. Bring on September!
4 comments
mary k says:
Feb 17, 2008
Phenomenal, isn’t it? The way people react when you suggest that someone such as Keith Windschuttle, whether you agree or disagree with his views, is just as capable of rational thinking as anyone on the so-called ‘left’.
What really bothers me is that a lot of social commentary and debate I read, descends into a mud-slinging match between ‘left-wing’ and ‘right-wing’ intellectualism, despite the fact that looking at an issue through these ideological prisms tends to add heat to the fire rather than shine a light on the debate. I would say that the best thinkers are those who are aware of their own political bias or opinion but intelligent enough to take into account the point of view of others- to canvas the ideas and evidence out there and decide for themselves, as the only way that social and political issues can be discussed comprehensively.
Which is really just an expanded way of saying, I agree with you, Seb…and cheers for the pingback.
Yosh says:
Feb 17, 2008
Go the Cats! Here’s hoping for what Malcolm Blight so confidently referred to as the ‘threepeat’. 😀
Oh, and thanks for the shout-out.
Sebastian Strangio says:
Feb 17, 2008
Thanks, kids! See youse all on Friday for much revelry.
Carl! says:
Feb 18, 2008
i saw that and meant to link for you.
you’ve come up over at LP somewhere too, but I can’t remember where. you can find it if u want: larvatusprodeo.net.