Fri 25 Sep, 2009
Is he wearing a hair piece?
If I had to guess I would say Zirgar hates racism. [Zirgar's]
So when is the government bringing back the draft? [Hullabaloo]
So that’s what the Patriot Act was for. [Huffington Post]
First the liberal media used “gotcha” questions on Sarah Palin, and now they using them on Glenn Beck. [You Tube]
How does David Brooks still have a job? [Glenn Greenwald]
3 Responses to “Phuck Politics’ Weekly Link Dump – Thomas Friedman is a douche edition
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Tags: link dump, Thomas Friedman is a dickComments (3)
Elizabeth says:
Friedman is a d-bag, as much as it pains me to say so, in case I offend d-bags. He still has not an ounce of shame or self-criticism after banging the Iraq war drums. The guy is almost as creepy as Bill Kristol.
Phuck Politics says:
@Elizabeth – And now Friedman is banging on the Afghanistan war drums. I can’t wait until the guy gets ran over by an 18-wheeler.
cft says:
I think the Greenwald article in Salon is correct that the scariest thing about Brooks and Friedman, et al, is that there is no one in a sufficiently influential position — be he politician, journalist, public intellectual, etc. — who is honest and responsible enough simply to point out the obvious thing, which is that these guys have zero credibility. And anyway, that anybody who was duped previously into thinking that they had credibility has no excuse for allowing himself be swindled a second time around.
It’s easy to say that the reason they get away with it is that most Americans are dumb, uneducated, brainwashed, self-absorbed, cynical and politically and intellectually cowardly. No doubt, all of those things are true. And frankly, American capitalism — especially during periods in which we’re reminded of how closely our livelihoods are tethered to the vicissitudes of finance capitalism — is basically set up in a way that MAKES you self-absorbed.
But I think the real reason these guys get away with their lies and “tough guy” tactics is generational.
Our political system and our economy is — as it has been for decades — dominated by Baby Boomers. The Baby Boomers have been bought off for a long time, and they can still be bought off today. They’re the most self-absorbed people in the world: They’re easy to pander to, they’re easy to scare, and they are used to not having to go off and fight the wars themselves. In fact, one of the central ways in which our present political system pays people off into complicity and docility is the knowledge that if you enter a particular economic caste, you will never have to worry about your snot-nosed little son actually getting drafted.
I think if it were up to people 45-years-old-and-under, there’s no way that the David Brooks’s of the world would be taken seriously. But it will never be up to us, because there aren’t enough of us.