moral relativism -- the right loves it! [View All]

[Bill McBlueState]

One of the "isms" we on the left get accused of is moral relativism -- the idea that there's no universal moral standard and all moral opinions are equal. (This is how the right describes it, anyway.)

But this is what the right has been doing for years now! Whenever you watch any of the evening pundits, every single issue that's debated has two positions: the conservative one and the liberal one. Everyone's expected to agree with whatever "team" they've already signed up with. Since all opinions are politically driven, every opinion is as good as the next, it just depends on what side you're on.

The right has attempted to totally squelch the idea of opinions informed by facts. I'm reminded of this because of the discussions we've been having about the liberal views of college professors. Maybe college professors, and journalists for that matter, are more liberal because their job is to think about problems in detail -- to see the truth of the matter rather than accept "common sense." Perhaps these people are liberal because in most cases, the liberal position really *is* the correct position, and the conservative position is a result of limited information, or a narrow view of the world.

All opinions are not equal! If your leg hurts, you don't ask David Horowitz about it, you ask a doctor. If you want to know about the cause of poverty, you don't ask the president of College Republicans, you ask a sociologist. And maybe the sociologist will give you a liberal answer, but hey, the sociologist has spent a *lot* more time thinking about and researching the answer.