This Woman's Intuition :: Dynamist

Virginia Postrel is one of my favorites. Ditto Dan Drezner. I'm wondering why I didn't think to check out what her thoughts were on the ports?

Quoting (in full):

Both my email and some of Dan Drezner's comments suggest that it's better to go with your gut on the ports issue, never mind the facts. Dan and I are supposedly "overly rational." One reader email recommends Malcolm Gladwell's Blink as a cure for my excessive rationality.

All I can say is my gut reaction was, "This is stupid." And, now that the research is in, I'd say that gut reaction was right--as Glenn Reynolds, among others, has come to agree (the blogosphere at its best). When you've seen enough ill-founded hysteria over foreign ownership, you develop an instinct.

Indeed. And your blinker will work, too!

And earlier, again in full:

Bravo to Dan Drezner, for his eminently sane post on the current fuss over letting a Dubai-owned company manage pieces of U.S. ports. And kudos to President Bush for standing up for commercial freedom and sound foreign policy. Dubai is a U.S. ally and a rare island of semi-freedom in the Gulf.

On this issue, my friend Glenn Reynolds has again demonstrated his disturbing tendency to congratulate himself for spotting, but not opposing. new expressions of American xenophobia. He has, however, partly redeemed himself by demonstrating that he'll at least consider rational arguments. I don't think bloggers, even big shots like InstaPundit, have a responsibility to comment on every issue. But if you're going to bring them up, Glenn, take a stand. Don't just pander to populist fears under the cover of doing horse-race-style analysis (i.e., "it's a political loser"). You wouldn't take the cheap way out if the issue involved technology.

To quote a well-known pundit, "Ouch."

Tags: Postrel