Matt's entirely missing the point of Jonah Goldberg's ridiculous "liberals are friendly fascists" thesis. First, the Goldberg quote:
"The quintessential liberal fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade-school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore."
To which Matt responded:
Despite Jonah Goldberg's notions, it turns out that you can't really major in education at Swarthmore. Sara was also telling me that a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore under any major wouldn't ordinarily qualify you to teach grade school without some additional certification.
Matt's responding here as if Jonah wanted an honest debate. He doesn't. In fact, I would argue he doesn't even want a dishonest debate. What he wants is to taunt and bully the effete liberal elite. He's hoping that if he calls them (us?) enough names we will respond as just like this: by reacting in a way that will allow him to portray liberals as whining, complaining elites.
At bottom, the modern conservative movement has become an anti-intellectual movement. Honestly, how else can you explain a "serious writer" producing an entire book that makes so little historical, theoretical, and intellectual sense? The point isn't to win an argument, but to pick a fight. The Swarthmore line is meant as a taunt, not an argument, one designed to goad liberals into engaging in a barroom brawl as if it was some sort of intellectual debate. The taunt is designed to provoke a response that proves his real thesis: that liberals are pussies who have no idea how to fight.
The pattern goes something like this:
Goldberg: The quintessential liberal fascist isn't an SS storm trooper; it is a female grade-school teacher with an education degree from Brown or Swarthmore
Matt Y: it turns out that you can't really major in education at Swarthmore. Sara was also telling me that a bachelor's degree from Swarthmore under any major wouldn't ordinarily qualify you to teach grade school without some additional certification.
Golberg's fans: Ha ha ha! Look at that ridiculous Matt Y! He knows all about that crazy liberal Swarthmore! He thinks I care what kind of degrees you can get at there! Liberal snob always thinks they know what's right! Ha ha! C'mon... who care about knowledge!
So how best to respond to this sort of ridiculousness? My suggestion is that we simply collectively ignore him. Jonah is just begging for a fight, and nothing will bother him more than if he doesn't get the attention he so desperately craves. When a bully taunts you there really are only two choices: Pound him in the head, or walk away. Either way, you win and he loses. Given that the first isn't really an option here, I'd suggest we all go for option two.
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