Look. We know Republican feet not only smell different from but worse than liberal feet. It's just one of those home truths. Our parents warned us about it years ago. Only our fear of being thought prejudiced keeps us from holding our noses when we pass them in the corridors.
But suffering from epistemic closure as well? That's a good deal more serious and threatening to the American way of life. The fact that Ezra Klein has the guts to raise the issue in his widely read Washington Post blog makes me admire him more than ever. Klein evidently picked up on Julian Sanchez' examination of contemporary conservatives.
The very fact that Jonah Goldberg denies the existence of the condition within his party makes it likely that Sanchez hit the target.
Grab some Gold Bond (more useful than Goldberg) and check out what Klein has to say about the symptoms of epistemic closure -- the sad challenge conservatives are experiencing to their mental (and political) health. I think you'll agree that the problem is hardly exaggerated.
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