Backlash over Bannon invite reveals media’s weaknesses: Kennedy

Our political world is split in two, like a good pair of pants on the dance floor, and with hot heads and mob rule, don't expect these trousers to get sewn up any time soon.

There is no more divisive character in modern politics than Steve Bannon, as he symbolizes the devil incarnate for the heaving, emotional left. Bannon is arguably the guy who turned around the sinking S.S. Trump, and was able to capitalize on the disenfranchisement of so many frustrated voters that culminated in the most unlikely presidential victory in our history. How could a guy so hateful and paranoid help accomplish such a trick? I don't know, why don't you ask him? The New Yorker was about to, but they backed out like a U-Haul down a one-way alley.

In politics there is plenty of division, hostility, tribalism, posturing; but there's almost no curiosity. Instead of wondering why someone holds a certain set of beliefs and asking how they came to them, it is easier to gather a mob and silence opposing viewpoints by force.

Steve Bannon may be an unlikable troll, but he may hold the keys to the left's future if they stop weeping and fainting long enough to unlock his Rubik's Cube. That was supposed to happen at The New Yorker’s festival, but New Yorker editor David Remnick, who had the bold idea of challenging Bannon in front of a hostile crowd, retreated and rescinded the invite.

Other less interesting attendees like the ever hyperbolic and rarely relevant Jim Carrey dropped out on Twitter, writing: "Bannon? And me? On the same program? Could never happen."

Judd Apatow huffed, "I will not take part in an event that normalizes hate.” Oh, put a sock in it, you one-dimensional drama queen.

Just because Remnick knew a Bannon forum would be fiery and well-covered doesn't mean he's secretly Pepe the Frog, spewing white nationalism cleverly disguised in between his liberal turns of phrase.

Here is a piece of advice: If you want to strengthen your views, challenge them. Don't sit and mope in your sanitary echo chamber, that phony intellectual bath house in search of a happy ending. It'll never come! Caving into blather and peer pressure never bolstered anyone's argument. Just ask the economist who is moving forward with a Bannon roundtable so they can challenge him and expose his weaknesses instead of running from their own.