Matt Yglesias doesn’t like to read books or seek out viewpoints different from his own. So that at least partially explains what the heck is happening with Vox’s embarrassing implosion.
He tweeted today:
Would be easier to take conservative concerns about religious freedom seriously if conservatives cared at all about religious minorities.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 17, 2014
I’ll just throw this other tweet from this week out there for consideration before we consider Matt Yglesias’ claim:
@jsende Maybe you should apply some common sense and basic decency before flinging absurd slanders at people.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 14, 2014
Oh, and this one for good measure:
@michaelbd No, pretty easy for me. I take an old-school Jacobin-style line that religion should be stamped out.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) August 29, 2013
Vintage Yglesian historical illiteracy of that last tweet notwithstanding, let’s go on. OK, so is it true that these civil libertarians who care about religious freedom (in the Yglesian taxonomy, we call them “conservatives”) only care about religious majorities?
Take it away Tim Carney:
How much research did you do on conservatives and religious minorities, @mattyglesias, before tweeting that attack?
— Timothy P Carney (@TPCarney) July 17, 2014
First, @mattyglesias, do Mennonites count as religious minorities? http://t.co/X0x55Tp72H
— Timothy P Carney (@TPCarney) July 17, 2014
Also, @mattyglesias does the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro not count as a religious minority? http://t.co/YhuouBjhk9
— Timothy P Carney (@TPCarney) July 17, 2014
Are observant Jews the minority in Denmark, @mattyglesias? http://t.co/ZMH8icAEus
— Timothy P Carney (@TPCarney) July 17, 2014
Tell me, @mattyglesias, is Amandeep Singh a protestant name? http://t.co/sBXZ6CTKPV
— Timothy P Carney (@TPCarney) July 17, 2014
Yglesias, impervious to reality, retorted:
@JGreenDC you and @TPCarney should teach a seminar on “how to condescend to Jewish people on the internet”
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 17, 2014
And:
@TPCarney I’ll see you at the next war on Christmas, Tim. Until then I’m gonna go to some work.
— Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 17, 2014
Hoo boy.
A Vox editor even pointed out the ignorance of Yglesias’ tweet:
@mattyglesias Unfair, untrue. Becket Fund–the Catholic-founded law firm that represented Hobby Lobby at SCOTUS–reps almost any religion
— Eleanor Barkhorn (@eleanorbarkhorn) July 17, 2014
@mattyglesias Their "top 10 victories" page includes wins for Muslims, Jews, Santerians http://t.co/AMcpYQDMJc
— Eleanor Barkhorn (@eleanorbarkhorn) July 17, 2014
He was unmoved. He did say that the people calling him out for his ignorance made him less sympathetic to Christians, so there is that.
To sum up, Yglesias failed to apply any common sense and basic decency before flinging absurd slanders at people. He also failed to know anything at all whatsoever about modern religious liberty battles and who is fighting for them. And he failed to do even the slightest bit of research — such as, apparently, the only means of research available to the Vox crew (Google). Excellent work.
