Different Men, Different Era, Different Mission

Op-ed in today's LA Times called "Conservatism's Two Faces," by someone named Jim Newton, comparing Andrew Breitbart's legacy with James Q. Wilson's, both of whom died this month (link below). Here's the letter to the editor I just sent in:

Different era. Different mission. Different men. To contrast Breitbart disparagingly with Wilson is to miss an important distinction between the two. Wilson was born in 1931, Breitbart in 1969. Mr. Wilson turned 43 (the age Breitbart was when he died this month) in 1974. Contrast the 1970’s with today. The differences are many, not the least of which are a breathtaking incivility and an irrepressible 24/7 information cycle that spews out distortions in the same breath as the news. So Breitbart was engaged a different battle. What's more, Wilson had a lifetime to refine his legacy. Breitbart only recently emerged on the journalistic scene, and one could argue that he was only just getting started. We’ll never know what his ultimate legacy would have been had he lived into his eighties. Instead, we have only the work he began which is still in its infancy. Finally, to dismiss Breitbart as a ranting pugilist is to reveal an astonishingly limited understanding not only of what he accomplished in his short-lived career but also of what drove him to behave in ways that offend the refined and the polite. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. It’s treacherous business, and unfortunately people get burned, including, sadly, the firefighter. Andrew Breitbart died fighting, and he deserves better than this petty commentary by Jim Newton.

 "Conservatism's Two Faces," by Jim Newton