Comments on: DAVID BROOKS HITS THE FJM TRIFECTA

By: kiki

kiki — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:33:55 +0000

I am breathless and speechless at the way you translate my pant-shitting rage into such eloquent prose…."They are blades of grass angrily demanding a visit from the lawnmower." Priceless.

By: Steve T.

Steve T. — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:30:53 +0000

"…it could not matter less what rural white America thinks. They are far too inarticulate, illiterate, and flat-out stupid…"

More to the point, they're disappearing. (From this cool chart: http://flare.prefuse.org/apps/job_voyager)

From US Census data, in 1850 50.3% of the population were farmers and farm laborers. In 1920 the figure was 25.1%. In 2000 the figure was…

1.0%

In politics, you gotta have the numbers, you gotta have the votes. Granted, a lot of rural people aren't farmers; they just like living out there, or run businesses supporting the few farmers left. But we're no longer an agrarian nation; we live and work and VOTE in cities and suburbs. But some people just can't make the adjustment.

By: Desargues

Desargues — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:26:25 +0000

Correction: "is of quite recent lineage." There.

By: Desargues

Desargues — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 23:25:38 +0000

…sociology is more important than fitness… Yet he's good at neither. When it came to choosing between insightful and trim, Bobo went with 'dumpy' and 'trite.' From Edmund Burke, he tore off those pages about the virtues of being average.

…and it should not be sucked off by condescending, manipulative elites… That bit is a flat out lie, although useful idiots like him have internalized it. Opposition to condescension from our better is of quote recent lineage: Nixon, Lee Atwater, Karl Rove. Before then, even the mouth-breathers knew there were people better than them. Tricky Dick and St Ray-Gun cleverly realized the dum-dums will gladly part with their money if you tell them they're great.

By: j

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:12:10 +0000

Was there a benzene dump by Kimberly-Clark? I never heard of one, but I'd be sure interested to hear about it.

By: Caroline

Caroline — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:07:23 +0000

Hey Ed, this is off-topic, but I was just in Dubai and your website was blocked by the UAE. I thought you'd like to know.

By: JohnR

JohnR — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:41:54 +0000

"They are, in short, idiots."

Ah – .".the common clay of the new West.. You know – morons!"

By: Mrs. Chili

Mrs. Chili — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:04:36 +0000

This is the part that gets me:

"Barack Obama leads a government of the highly educated"

Brooks says this like it's a BAD thing.

We've become enamored of ignorance. At some point – and Dear Ones, let's make it soon – we have to stand up and say that it's not okay to be stupid; that ignorance ISN'T a virtue, and that "educated" isn't a slur.

By: Zak44

Zak44 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:17:24 +0000

All critics of Obama are not racists.

BUT

All racists are critics of Obama.