Jonah Goldberg Still Babbling About Stupid Young People

Is Jonah Goldberg bellyaching about something today? Well, it is a "day," so indeed he is! Currently he is incredibly upset that those hysterical Obama-lovers at Media Matters didn’t bother to ask him his opinion about young people, even though he already gave these opinions to the Daily Caller when he said that young people are "so frickin' stupid" that we should consider raising the voting age.

And to be fair to Jonah Goldberg, young people ARE so frickin’ stupid! Remember back in 2008, when all those 18-year-olds banded together to cause a global financial crisis? And don’t get us started on the legions of 18-year-olds that Moody’s put on notice in 2011 because they just up and refused to raise the debt ceiling. Kids these days! SO FRICKIN' STUPID.

But we digress! How DARE Media Matters not ask Jonah Goldberg his opinion about his own previously expressed opinion that young people are "so frickin’ stupid?" Why would they go ask OTHER people about his opinion when they should have just asked him?

Via the NRO:  

This guy at  Media Matters, Joe Strupp, who constantly (though unsuccessfully) seeks comment from me whenever he wants me to bad-mouth other conservatives failed to actually seek me out for comment in a story about … me. 

Jonah Goldberg can perhaps be forgiven for thinking that the story is about him, given that he seems to think that so many things are about him. But in this case, the story was NOT about him. It was about whether or not young people agree with his assessments of them--specifically, that they shouldn't be able to vote because they are "so frickin’ stupid." Which for the record, is something he doesn’t ACTUALLY think, as it turns out. Unless they are not part of the OC Young Republicans, in which case, he might.

I have no doubt that members of the OC Young Republicans are well informed (I also would expect members of the College Democrats to be informed). Members of political activist groups are not necessarily representative of young people generally. The simple fact is that surveys show that young people generally are less knowledgeable about current events, news and the government generally than older people. Is anyone honestly shocked by this?

The link, by the way, goes to a quiz about the "major political parties" at the Pew website, which isn't super helpful in assessing his claim that young people are "so frickin’ stupid," but by all means, feel free to take the quiz and see how you do and whether or not you, like the nation's 18-year-old, are "so frickin' stupid." Anyway, the point here is that Jonah Goldberg really wants to just EDUCATE young people, rather than pander to them, in hopes that they will someday stop being "so frickin’ stupid: "

We shouldn’t pander to young people just because they’re young, we should educate them . That’s the core insight and job of conservatism. Civilization is a process, a verb. It is something we do to the jumble of glandular impulses we call young people.  We are invaded every generation by barbarians, Hannah Arendt said, “we call them children.”

Apparently, the fact that young people should be educated BECAUSE they are young is the job of conservatism. And who better to educate these young people than someone who thinks that "civilization is a verb?

 [NRO]