Hunting The Muse

Salon.com News | The bigotry

Salon.com News | The bigotry of Belafonte Let's be clear, it sounds like Belafonte was being an idiot. But I got ticked off at this article's closing and wrote a response:

You know, I found Andrew Sullivan's latest article about Harry Belafonte thought-provoking. But then he had to practically ruin it with his clumsily manipulative last paragraph:

"The question to be asked of the left is therefore a simple one: Are you in favor of bigotry or against it? If you're against it, how can you not criticize and, indeed, ostracize a bigot like Belafonte?"

Did this guy ever even take a logic course? This is one of the most stupid argument techniques there is, and is a lot more common from the "ideological certainty" of the right. Dictate the terms of an argument and then present a false choice - if the recipient resists the question, they're a coward, and if they go along with it, they're trapped. "If you don't ostracize Belafonte, you're a bigot." Please. Salon should hold its journalists to higher standards. It's ironic that Sullivan would make this argument when the recurring thread in his argument is respecting individuality. How is this not hypocrisy? Posted by Curt at October 25, 2002 03:58 PM