Intellectual Conservative Politics and Philosophy » Allan Levite

Better than the Bill of Rights?

Allan Levite — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:00:01 +0000

Yes, two ideas protect our freedoms more fundamentally than the Bill of Rights – if we believe in them.

Probably more than the citizens of any other country, Americans know what their rights are and insist that they be upheld. However, though the Bill of Rights is a fine thing, it is still only a [...]

The Problem with the Polls

Allan Levite — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 11:00:15 +0000

Polls on party or candidate preferences are usually accurate. But what about polls on controversial issues?

Public opinion polls have shown substantial support for a government-run health insurance system, among other things. However, deception influences such results, although it is not the poll-takers who are being deceptive. While polls on candidate and party [...]

Denying the Undeniable: The Deception in Denying Liberal Media Bias

Allan Levite — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 11:00:32 +0000

Martin Lee, Norman Solomon, Ben Bagdikian, and Herbert J. Gans have all denied liberal media bias. Here's how they did it.

In their 1986 book The Media Elite, S. Robert Lichter, Stanley Rothman, and Linda S. Lichter measured the extent of bias in the major media by interviewing 238 journalists at the TV networks and the [...]

Conspiracy Theories As Medicine

Allan Levite — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:00:11 +0000

Conspiracy theorists believe that although some government agencies are treacherous, others are blameless. Conspiracy-theory is not the content of what they believe, but only the medium.

The History Channel's program The Kennedy Assassination: Beyond Conspiracy? used the latest forensic science and computer animation to prove that Lee Harvey Oswald murdered President Kennedy — acting alone. [...]

The Big Spike: What Media Bias Withholds From the News

Allan Levite — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 11:55:10 +0000

If voters overwhelmingly oppose gun control, would the news media report it?

I often hear: "Chronic liberal media bias cannot exist, because . . .", followed by the most flimsy logic imaginable. For example, "journalists have no liberal bias; they fear offending their conservative readers." (This would diminish readership, which might finally leave the journalists [...]

“Corporate” Media

Allan Levite — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 12:00:11 +0000

Does the news have a "pro-corporate" bias, simply because the major news media outlets are corporate-owned?

Despite much evidence to the contrary, some people claim that because the major media are corporate-owned, they must serve "corporate interests" and so the news must have a pro-corporate bias. Peter Phillips, Professor of Sociology at Sonoma State [...]

Authority and its Friends

Allan Levite — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 13:35:49 +0000

The 1960s was a time of rebellion about authority, but due to the boisterousness of radical politics, it was mistaken for a rebellion against authority.

We live in a unique age. Conservatives, always known for their admiration of "law and order," are now assumed by the mass media to have "anti-government" sentiments. Actually, in [...]