A more honest term for this underground would be the Intellectual Conservative Ghetto (ICG). Like other important issues, no one likes to talk about its existence. Weiss drew heavy criticism for even mentioning it. Despite all evidence to the contrary, people on the left prefer to believe their views are objective and inclusive. They would never like to admit, even to themselves, that they have marginalized such a large group of people and essentially put them in the media equivalent of ghettos.

Conservatives and others who stray from the mainstream catalog of acceptable subjects inhabit a realm that, while free and diverse, lacks the safeguards and rules that normally govern civil discussions. Some arguments and reports are more academic and well researched; other arguments are not so developed or logical. Some stories are outright fabricated.

And then there are the memes, which are more rhetorical graffiti than articulated positions. At one end, there are professors and policy wonks at Public Discourse or National Review, and at the other, there are conspiracy theorists at InfoWars and the trolls at Reddit. There are no gatekeepers (it’s a ghetto, not a gated community) and no consistent quality control. Readers must proceed at their own risk and learn how to sift.