Tugging on Superman’s Cape

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Guess who decided to pick a fight with Mark Steyn?

I don’t often respond to Conor Friedersdorf, usually because it would require me to read him . . .
Evidently, my old friends at The Atlantic Monthly feel differently. From that perch, Mr Friedersdorf takes issue with my observations on “honor killings,” and has written to NR’s editors demanding a “correction.” The executive honchos in turn passed his demand on to me, and suggested I take a look at it as they’d been unable to get through it. . . .

Read the whole thing. Suffice it to say that it is not Mr. Steyn who needs correcting.

38 comments

  3. Heh

    I don’t often respond to Conor Friedersdorf, usually because it would require me to read him . . .

    I’ve tried reading him a few times but couldn’t figure out what he was going on about. It was easier not to bother.

  5. Heh

    I don’t often respond to Conor Friedersdorf, usually because it would require me to read him . . .

    I’ve tried reading him a few times but couldn’t figure out what he was going on about. It was easier not to bother.

  9. I hate to take sides against anyone in The Atlantic family, and I love going against the Repubitrons and torture apologists at NRO. I will never forgive John Podhoretz for mocking me when he still worked there and Jonah Goldberg for actually writing a book that not only made money but was a best seller.

    But I wish I could seduce convince Mark Steyn to see the advantages of…well let’s just say spending summers in P-Town. That beard, grrrrr. There are bears in those NRO woods and I want to go hunting.

  10. I hate to take sides against anyone in The Atlantic family, and I love going against the Repubitrons and torture apologists at NRO. I will never forgive John Podhoretz for mocking me when he still worked there and Jonah Goldberg for actually writing a book that not only made money but was a best seller.

    But I wish I could seduce convince Mark Steyn to see the advantages of…well let’s just say spending summers in P-Town. That beard, grrrrr. There are bears in those NRO woods and I want to go hunting.

  11. Steyn had the audacity to write this:

    [UPDATE: Friedersdorf’s colleague, The Atlantic’s Chief Obstetrician, thinks my post is evidence of “epistemic closure” on the right. Ah, yes. Because nothing says “closed-minded conservative bubble” like a right-wing racist sexist loon worrying about the murders of brown women.]

    Fine! Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! The P-Town invitation is off.

    Conor notes this statement by Mark Steyn:

    The media’s attitude to “honor killings” is not only shameful and dishonors the dead; it’s also part of the reason why America’s newspapers are sliding off the cliff: Their silence on this issue is merely an especially ugly manifestation of how their news instincts have been castrated by political correctness.

    Thus is reproduced as fact at the Corner, the way Newsweek uses a campaign book like Going Rogue as self-evidently part of the historical record. But, to read only the NYT for the past decade reveals Steyn to be hallucinating:

    Over a period of roughly a decade, the newspaper ran everything from major internationally reported stories on honor killings in its glossy magazine to a crime story about a local honor killing on its New York regional page. It covered honor killings in Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

    The topic garnered attention from magazine editors, freelancers, staff reporters in the newspaper, writers on the book review and arts pages, and multiple op-ed columnists from across the ideological spectrum. One of those columnists wrote multiple items about honor killings across several years (and even mentioned them in a couple columns that won a Pulitzer Prize!). Considering the magazine stories on honor killings alone, the Times must have spent tens of thousands of dollars at minimum covering the subject in its Sunday glossy. Honor killings were also deemed important enough to frequently appear in the World Section briefs.

    So what on earth is Mark Steyn talking about?

    Himself, I think. But since there is only a tenuous connection between what Steyn writes and what most people deem as non-wingnut reality, this critique will hold no water on the right. What matters to them is not grappling with what is, but asserting an ideology and cultural solidarity against libruls. So we have a simple test: will NRO correct the record (as if Steyn has ever conceded an error on anything), or will epistemic closure reign on?

    [sob] I so love him.

  12. Steyn had the audacity to write this:

    [UPDATE: Friedersdorf’s colleague, The Atlantic’s Chief Obstetrician, thinks my post is evidence of “epistemic closure” on the right. Ah, yes. Because nothing says “closed-minded conservative bubble” like a right-wing racist sexist loon worrying about the murders of brown women.]

    Fine! Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned! The P-Town invitation is off.

    Conor notes this statement by Mark Steyn:

    The media’s attitude to “honor killings” is not only shameful and dishonors the dead; it’s also part of the reason why America’s newspapers are sliding off the cliff: Their silence on this issue is merely an especially ugly manifestation of how their news instincts have been castrated by political correctness.

    Thus is reproduced as fact at the Corner, the way Newsweek uses a campaign book like Going Rogue as self-evidently part of the historical record. But, to read only the NYT for the past decade reveals Steyn to be hallucinating:

    Over a period of roughly a decade, the newspaper ran everything from major internationally reported stories on honor killings in its glossy magazine to a crime story about a local honor killing on its New York regional page. It covered honor killings in Europe, the Middle East and the United States.

    The topic garnered attention from magazine editors, freelancers, staff reporters in the newspaper, writers on the book review and arts pages, and multiple op-ed columnists from across the ideological spectrum. One of those columnists wrote multiple items about honor killings across several years (and even mentioned them in a couple columns that won a Pulitzer Prize!). Considering the magazine stories on honor killings alone, the Times must have spent tens of thousands of dollars at minimum covering the subject in its Sunday glossy. Honor killings were also deemed important enough to frequently appear in the World Section briefs.

    So what on earth is Mark Steyn talking about?

    Himself, I think. But since there is only a tenuous connection between what Steyn writes and what most people deem as non-wingnut reality, this critique will hold no water on the right. What matters to them is not grappling with what is, but asserting an ideology and cultural solidarity against libruls. So we have a simple test: will NRO correct the record (as if Steyn has ever conceded an error on anything), or will epistemic closure reign on?

    [sob] I so love him.

  13. I would never pick a fight with Mark Steyn but I would not be adverse to bit of wrestling. OMGosh!!! Did I actually say that in public??

  14. I would never pick a fight with Mark Steyn but I would not be adverse to bit of wrestling. OMGosh!!! Did I actually say that in public??

  21. Andrew – a duel, perhaps?? Be aware that I am a little old Italian lady and I fight dirty. Very, very dirty!

    I am sure you do, Adrianne. You sound like a Palin supporter.

    Unfortunately for me, I doubt I can swing Mark Steyn to see what a great couple we would make.

    I dare not approach him, I can barely mention–the unrequieted desire of my affection.

    And the sting of rejection. [sob]

  22. Andrew – a duel, perhaps?? Be aware that I am a little old Italian lady and I fight dirty. Very, very dirty!

    I am sure you do, Adrianne. You sound like a Palin supporter.

    Unfortunately for me, I doubt I can swing Mark Steyn to see what a great couple we would make.

    I dare not approach him, I can barely mention–the unrequieted desire of my affection.

    And the sting of rejection. [sob]

  31. Conor needs to find useful work in a field more suited to his talents. IIRC, Harris Teeter is hiring bag boys.

  32. Conor needs to find useful work in a field more suited to his talents. IIRC, Harris Teeter is hiring bag boys.

  33. “Ambush Bug… his name is supposedly Irwin Schwab, but he has mental problems that prevent him from truly understanding reality around him, so…”

    Hmm.

    “Forbush Man was a wannabe superhero (albeit one with no superpowers), with a costume comprising red long johns with the letter F on the front and a cooking pot with eye-holes on his head.”

    I can see your dilemma, Mr. McEnroe. Both excellent choices!

  34. “Ambush Bug… his name is supposedly Irwin Schwab, but he has mental problems that prevent him from truly understanding reality around him, so…”

    Hmm.

    “Forbush Man was a wannabe superhero (albeit one with no superpowers), with a costume comprising red long johns with the letter F on the front and a cooking pot with eye-holes on his head.”

    I can see your dilemma, Mr. McEnroe. Both excellent choices!

  35. Well, I’m sure young Conor is jubilant with the attention, as are his babysitters at the Atlantic, who can use the traffic.

    It makes no sense that anyone would pay the kid for his writing, which has little to commend it beyond rigorous spell-checking. The only reasonable explanation is that the editors are amused by the name.

    It is pretty darned funny, now that I think of it.

  36. Well, I’m sure young Conor is jubilant with the attention, as are his babysitters at the Atlantic, who can use the traffic.

    It makes no sense that anyone would pay the kid for his writing, which has little to commend it beyond rigorous spell-checking. The only reasonable explanation is that the editors are amused by the name.

    It is pretty darned funny, now that I think of it.

  37. What little respect I had for Andrew Sullivan was just shreaded by reading this comment thread.

  38. What little respect I had for Andrew Sullivan was just shreaded by reading this comment thread.

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