bryant

Randy Barnett gives Den Beste much stroke over at the Volokh Conspiracy. While I think Den Beste is skimming over some issues, I must credit him with linking to someone who refutes him nicely. So no picking on Den Beste today.

Nah. Let’s quote Barnett instead. The emphasis is his.

Funny, how you have to read blogs or websites like NRO to learn ANYTHING about what is or may be really going on. The news media is hopeless. Bias to one side, you simply cannot be informed by reading or listening to the mainstream press.

So, ah, where did Randy think Den Beste got his facts? I mean, Den Beste doesn’t actually have any sources that are denied to the rest of us; he learned what he knows about the current state of North Korean diplomacy by reading the BBC and ABC News, just like you and I. You can tell, because he links to their sites to establish his facts. He then analyzes those facts and presents his conclusions.

Randy, in his enthusiasm, confuses “being informed” with “accepting someone else’s conclusions.” This is dangerous. We have, in this era of the Internet, more sources of information available to us than ever before. Many of them are false. It’s vital that we learn to assess primary sources for ourselves; it’s vital that we learn to reach our own conclusions.

Den Beste is not running a news site, nor does he claim to be. He’s running an opinion site. We shouldn’t confuse the two. Read his opinions, by all means — but then go to the same sources he uses, and others, and decide for yourself if his conclusions match yours. Simply reading an opinion, or even many opinions, does not cause one to be informed.