Showing posts with label David Brooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Brooks. Show all posts

Thursday, November 16, 2006

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black?

I generally disagree with much of what David Brooks has to say. But given his views and the paper he writes for, I am quite confident that he is used to all the "haters". The title of his Op-ed today intriguing, The Heyday of Snobbery. So despite my better judgement I decided to read it.

Brooks complains that the movie 'Borat' "ridicules Pentecostals, gun owners, car dealers, hicks, humorless feminists, the Southern gentry, Southern frat boys, and rodeo cowboys. A safer list it is impossible to imagine. " This may be true, but Brooks sense of injustice rings hollow. Brooks criticizes John Stewart and Bill Maher for scornful tone. His trifecta against snobbery culminates with the snobbery of Blue Staters who think people who voted for Bush are either racist or anti-Semitic idiots. (Note to D. Brooks: I doubt many people think GWB is anti-Semitic. I always thought he was rather nice to the Jews... to the Muslims, not so much. I would classify Bush as pro-Semitic if such a term exists.)

The problem with Brooks' essay is he, like Borat, goes with the "safe conservative list". By denouncing liberals, the Daily Show, and pot-heads (e.g., Maher), he hits the "usual suspects". Since when has Brooks cared about humorless feminists? If he did, he should have added Ann Coulter to the list. Is she not a snob for her comments about liberal feminists being ugly? Or how about Bill O'Reilly who thinks that secular progressives (e.g., most normal people)? Apparently, Brooks prescribes to the school of “fair and balanced” reporting ala FOX news.