Over at CentreRight, a new circle jerk for Tory bloggers (you can't post comments, only read what the overlords want you to, and watch them converse amongst one another with much back slapping and snide looks over the parapet) there is a post by Peter Cuthbertson seems to aim to counter an American blog about conservative myths. Now the original article at Washington Monthly is clearly a bit tongue in cheek while also being pretty much true that they stand up as myths, and Peter has decided to take him up on his challenge of helping him to find 5 myths about liberals

Quite frankly what he's come up with is mind boggling and not really in tune with the original articles request of being demonstrably false. let's take a look at these "myths"

1. Family breakdown is not a major cause of poverty and children don't generally do better with mum and a dad who are married.

Only one in and we're already doing well. The claim here that Liberals think that family breakdown doesn't impact on a childs life or poverty is the lesser point at trying to make the Tory issue of "married families are better". In fact the first half of this myth is something I can't find to exist in the liberal mind set. What is happening here is the usual political spin on an issue. Peter believes, like many Tories, that straight married couples are the best unit for a family, yet he listens to people like the Lib Dem's condemn this kind of talk because they believe that families with same sex parents or non-married couples are just as likely to be able to provide the same lifestyle. Somehow in Peter's mind he's managed to translate this falsely as such... "If they don't think marriage is the one true family unit, they must think broken families are just as good at raising kids, those crazy liberals!"

Quite obviously the point has been missed here. Never mind Peter, four more to go so you can still improve, but this one has to get a big fat 0 out of 10.

2. The reason there is a 15%-25% gap between average male and female earnings is massive irrational discrimination against qualified women, not different life and career choices by men and women.

Possibly the most abhorant of all the "myth's" here. Peter tries to suggest that feminists and pro-equality groups are just playing up the gender pay gap and that really it's just all of those women choosing to be good little housewives that are dragging the averages down. Unfortunately he falls foul of perpetuating his own myth enough to actually have the balls to write this crap down. Just take a look at this article if you don't believe me. Gender pay gaps are not tallied for all jobs and situations, they are tallied between like for like jobs in the business sector. The facts are clear, women in managerial and higher positions earn between 12% and 20% less than men in exactly the same jobs.

Sorry, I'm actually going to have to give you -10 out of 10 Peter, not only is this not a "myth" it is based on a "myth" of your own, any person capable of critical reading would be able to find the facts that obviously elude you

3. Liberal creationism: While evolution may explain human origins, evolutionary psychology is nothing but a collection of Just So Stories with nothing to tell us about human behaviour.

...Uh? I really don't know what peter is trying to say here. It is obviously in response to the original articles number 3 which questioned why Creationism was being taught as a science in some schools, but what is this myth here getting at? Is it trying to state Creationism is a perfectly reasonable explanation for life? If so no liberal can refute him because there is no way to prove it, and also he cannot refute them in kind. I just don't know, answers on a postcard please.

It's a 0 out of 10 again, doh! Better articulation of your point is needed, preferably without confusing changes in narrative perspective.

4. There are less punitive alternatives to prison which protect the public better.

I would love to see a source for this sort of argument because it is truly new on me. But then we are suffering from a lack of context here also, prison for minor offences might be welcomed by the conservative among us but perhaps community service and the like for these is more supported by liberals. But the argument about protecting the public better would make us assume we're not talking about minor offences here...in which case I would be interested to find a liberal that stated those people shouldn't be in prison. I am sure I could find many that agreed with the parole system and rehabilitation, the use of alternate techniques than simply locking people away and throwing away the key, but to do this outside of prisons? I'm afraid this seems to be a little bit of poetic license!

0 out of 10 once more Peter, you really aren't doing well. Can you redeem yourself with your final "myth" I wonder?

5. There is no trade off between economic growth and employment and increased regulation, more paid leave and a higher minimum wage.

This claim that liberals somehow think that you can give more and more rights to the worker without damaging the business behind it is probably the most true, though I still think you'd be hard pressed to find any sensible liberal who doesn't understand there is a trade off to be had. This is at least totally demonstrably false even if I can only think of stupid people that would ever believe this myth.

3 out of 10 Peter, because I'm feeling generous and a little sorry for you given how this experiment has backfired when held up to even the smallest level of scrutiny. So over all that gives you -7 out of 50, a truly respectable score in real terms! Unfortunately I would have to say please keep the other "myths" you struggled with and then cut to make this super top 5 to yourself given the overall quality of your end product.