South Park Conservatives: The
Revolt Against Liberal Media Bias by
Brian C. Anderson
Not Perfect - But Insightful And Amusing
For the better part of 30 years, liberal bias has dominated mainstream
media. But author and political journalist Brian Anderson reveals in his
new book that the era of liberal dominance is going the way of the dodo
bird.
Personal Review: South Park Conservatives: The Revolt
Against Liberal Media Bias by Brian C. Anderson
South Park Conservatives is a gem of a book; short, to the point, and
leaving its reader (so long as you're right of center) with a renewed sense
of hope. Starting with the same premise as so many other authors
(Bernard Goldberg comes to mind), Anderson lambasts the hopelessly
biased media. Rathergate is only one count of many in his indictment.

He is also, fitting for a fellow who is the editor of City Journal, willing to look
at the disturbing degree to which modern liberalism is inherently illiberal.
These are the people who whole-heartedly buy into Marcuse's doctrine of
"liberating tolerance" and Rawls's argument that political debate must only
take into account "reasonable" doctrines; both thinkers' constructs
obviously have no place for conservatism or conservative principles. Thus
liberal attempts to depict Republicans and conservatives as racist,
misogynistic and homophobic bigots is part of their own internal effort to
throw conservatism out of the bounds of "reasonableness." This is also, of
course, a liberalism with a penchant for ironic Orwellianism and double
speak, and the unspoken rule that free speech ends if you don't agree with
them. See the treatment at Columbia of the Minutemen (or closer to home,
the treatment at Duke of David Horowitz). Further this is the group that
refuses to see bias in anyone that agrees with them; thus they can justify
calling Dan Rather objective while working themselves into a lather over
anyone who airs a conservative perspective. By extension, this is why
Democrats are making noises about reinstating the "Fairness Doctrine"
(itself an Orwellian misnomer) - because only those that disagree with
them are biased and in need of balancing.
But whereas this is as far as many go, Anderson rightly points out that
things are changing. Quickly. Sure liberals still hold on to the Big 3 (whose
viewership is plummeting) and many major newspapers, to say nothing of
large swathes of the academe. But technological revolutions have given
rise to a new media - talk radio, cable news, the internet - where
Republicans are either a major force or effectively dominate. Rush and
O'Reilly are the face of this new media. And they're not just disseminating
the conservative message like never before, they (and especially the
blogs) are holding the mainstream media accountable, calling BS when
(often) appropriate, and forcing them to cover stories that would otherwise
be ignored as incompatible with the liberal meta-narrative.
He also suggests that times are changing on campuses around the country
as conservative principles, journals, College Republicans chapters, etc.
are flourishing. He's quick to point out that the faculty, overwhelmingly
liberal, still hold the high ground, but that conservatism is no longer
invisible on campuses. Some of his interviewees suggest that this is the
result of liberal indoctrination, a sort of classroom blowback; universities
also act as a sort of ideological forge where faced with liberal nonsense in
all its absurd glory, students embrace and refine their conservative
principles.
But what Anderson doesn't point out is that these very instruments of
conservative campus revival also suggest that liberals are doomed to
another generation of failure. The modern Republican revolution - 1994 to
the present (?) - has been grounded in ideas, in alternatives to tired
Democratic policies (no matter how you frame it, tax and spend is still tax
and spend, and cut and run is still cut and run!); the next generation of
conservative activists are already getting introduced to that culture of

innovation. Their liberal counterparts , in contrast, are too often picketing
against some new "injustice" or soaking up the latest drivel of race/gender/
class studies - nice if you're seeking a career in navel-gazing, but
absolutely insufficient if you're going to shape the future of the nation.
Finally, the title itself points to an entertainment industry that is in places
reacting viciously to the PC nonsense and condescension that
characterize the Left as a whole and especially its Hollywood incarnation.
Leading the charge here is Comedy Central's South Park - not so much
conservative as anti-liberal, gleefully destroying liberal idols and mocking
liberals such as Al Gore, Rob Reiner, and Michael Moore. Priceless stuff
really.
South Park Conservatives isn't an equally intellectual counterpoint to
Bloom's Closing of the American Mind; it isn't meant to be. Rather, it
chronicles some critical evolutions in the media and suggests that
incessant griping about liberalism's chokehold on the MSM is overwrought,
that it is in many ways a colossus with clay feet. It's got a message, but it's
light enough to be a beach read. Go forth and enjoy.
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