MEGYN KELLY: INTELLECTUAL HONESTY, FEMINISM, AND BEING A ROLE MODEL

I know it sounds like an endorsement, a streak of madness...but after listening to Megyn Kelly for 40 minutes in an in depth interview on PBS I confirmed for myself that Kelly is the kind of person I would vote for for high office. I’m sure I don’t agree with her on many issues but I feel that she would stay open minded and independent and refrain from being a rigid ideologue. I am no Fox News enthusiast, not by a long shot, but as a political junkie I have seen a big cross section of Fox News and ”The Kelly File” and other appearances by Megyn Kelly on television.....she has my respect.

Just like our first black President had to be much like our first black baseball player---incredibly thick skinned and with a Christ-like temperament, I feel that our first female President has to be exemplary...she needs to have brilliant communication skills and be highly empathic in order to prove to the doubters that a woman can be, at least, the equal of a man when serving as President of the United States.

Megyn Kelly appears to have many of the crucial characteristics that I would look for ....unlike the angry, disingenuous, unqualified, and demagogic Carly Fiorina, or even the politically non-courageous Hillary Clinton (my opinions). I think Hillary has a great temperament but since she, herself, got into politics as a senator and now a candidate for President she has seemed very lacking in taking bold and courageous stands....she voted to go to war with Iraq because she lacked political courage (imo). She waited to express her views on the recent Trade Deal and on the Keystone Pipeline because she wanted to see which stance would serve her best politically...(again, my opinions). I just have a hunch that Megyn Kelly would acquit herself more admirably under this scrutiny than any other women (currently) running for President...

We all know how she handled herself in the debate with Donald Trump. I thought she was pro....she asked the right questions without fear or hesitation..and she handled the criticisms with class and maturity.

I have to say that I have always found Megyn Kelly to be very fair and unbiased...she seems open minded and independent; she said as much in her interview with Charlie Rose...she said that, unlike Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly, she is a journalist who covers news stories and not an editorial journalist or commentator. She appears to be very intellectually honest. I think it is like catching “lightning in a bottle” to find anyone in politics or partisan journalism who is intellectually honest...it is so important no matter what your personal opinions and philosophies. Without intellectual honesty your mind is captured...the gate is closed to new perspectives and information....you become a stale prisoner of sorts, rather than an evolving, fluid, work in progress.

Wikipedia describes ”Intellectual Honesty” this way:

Intellectual honesty is an applied method of problem solving, characterized by an unbiased, honest attitude, which can be demonstrated in a number of different ways:

• One’s personal beliefs do not interfere with the pursuit of truth;
• Relevant facts and information are not purposefully omitted even when such things may contradict one’s hypothesis;
• Facts are presented in an unbiased manner, and not twisted to give misleading impressions or to support one view over another;
• References, or earlier work, are acknowledged where possible, and plagiarism is avoided.

Harvard ethicist Louis M. Guenin describes the “kernel” of intellectual honesty to be “a virtuous disposition to eschew deception when given an incentive for deception.”[1]

Intentionally committed fallacies in debates and reasoning are called intellectual dishonesty.

Megyn Kelly does something that is not that easily done..she is an attractive woman who is classic-ly feminine but you quickly forget whether she is a man or a woman; you can easily disengage from anything other than what she is saying because she walks that line perfectly, in my opinion. She is highly dignified and empowered and clearly disinterested in being objectified....

She is proof that you can have it all....you have to demand it..and seize it.

Food for Thought....