LIBERTARIANS AND FALSE EQUIVALENCE. In my review of The Simpsons Movie for The Guardian, I mentioned the libertarian impulse to falsely equate the harmless foibles of liberals with the nefarious proclivities of conservatives. As if to prove that point Michael C. Moynihan, a blogger for Reason, opines in response that the main argument of my piece, (that liberal Simpsons fans should be forewarned that though the movie is funny and worth-seeing it has a streak of politically conservative humor) makes me the equivalent Brent Bozell. Having actually covered Bozell's shenanigans I seriously resent the comparison. Bozell, like most conservative media watchdogs, does much more than write light-hearted columns gently critiquing a little political message he does not support. Bozell leads campaigns to berate corporations out of promoting content he finds offensive for political or moral reasons. As Moynihan may have noticed I didn't call for a boycott of The Simpsons movie. In fact, I encouraged readers to see it. Apparently, though, in Moynihan's simplistic way of thinking all criticisms are equal, and all political/cultural critics are equally dim-witted and illiberal regardless of what they actually say. I suppose Moynihan thinks no one should write op-eds discussing the political implications of cultural products at all. That's very open-minded indeed. --Ben Adler
