But to be honest, we can never be sure we are free of preconceptions, or even misconceptions. And it may be unreasonable to ask any man to be completely objective about everything, all the time.

There is nothing wrong with embracing a philosophy that has consistent views on a variety of topics, or which views the world through certain filters. In fact, to not do so may be humanly impossible, it's just the way we're wired. But there is always room for compromise, and seeing the other side's point of view on certain issues, or even rejecting your side's view on others. There will always be plenty of room for partisanship on some questions, there is no need to inject it into all of them.

I should point out that my original post was not meant as a criticism of TB's, on the contrary, there is much truth in what he says on the loss of confidence and vigor in the Western world-view, and when faced by the certainty and resolve of the fanatics now loose in the world, it could be suicidal. I may differ with him on how severe this crisis is, or what to do about it, but I do not reject his observations out of hand.