I mean, Brooks does address that stuff but he says the failure has to do with the culture of poverty -- avoiding that specific buzz phrase of course because it is rightly derided now. He sees Gray as a "victim" but doesn't point his finger at the institutional racism that is enshrined in policy on the federal, state, and local level. That's what's so insidious about him.
― Treeship, Friday, 1 May 2015 14:36 (eight years ago) link
He's not crude enough to say "Freddie Gray was a thug and it's his own fault." He blames "systems" just not ones he could be seen as complicit in upholding.
― Treeship, Friday, 1 May 2015 14:38 (eight years ago) link
and also freddie gray as far as we know didn't engage in much antisocial behavior -- brooks admits as much. and even if he did, that is immaterial. the penalty for whatever it is he might have done over the course of his life isn't supposed to be death.
― Treeship, Friday, 1 May 2015 14:39 (eight years ago) link
last one: i wouldn't be too quick to make the lead paint-brain damage connection without more evidence. for most people who read below grade level, the problem isn't their capability. usually it's a problem in their educational background, a learning difference that wasn't addressed or something like that
― Treeship, Friday, 1 May 2015 14:46 (eight years ago) link
In a fantastic interview that David Simon of “The Wire” gave to Bill Keller for The Marshall Project, he describes that, even in poorest Baltimore, there once were informal rules of behavior governing how cops interacted with citizens — when they’d drag them in and when they wouldn’t, what curse words you could say to a cop and what you couldn’t. But then the code dissolved. The informal guardrails of life were gone, and all was arbitrary harshness.That’s happened across many social spheres — in schools, families and among neighbors. Individuals are left without the norms that middle-class people take for granted. It is phenomenally hard for young people in such circumstances to guide themselves.
That’s happened across many social spheres — in schools, families and among neighbors. Individuals are left without the norms that middle-class people take for granted. It is phenomenally hard for young people in such circumstances to guide themselves.
Holy shit.
"Cops are on a rampage. Hey, that reminds me of how poor people have no morality."
― jmm, Friday, 1 May 2015 14:49 (eight years ago) link
how I would love to stuff David Brooks into a woodchipper
― Οὖτις, Friday, 1 May 2015 15:49 (eight years ago) link
you should be able to say any and all curse words to cops without fear of anything more than a cold stare.
― he quipped with heat (amateurist), Friday, 1 May 2015 20:39 (eight years ago) link
unless they're off-duty, in which case they might smack you like anyone else.
higher standard
― j., Friday, 1 May 2015 21:14 (eight years ago) link
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/05/opinion/david-brooks-what-is-your-purpose.html?ref=opinion
where is your porpoise?
― scott seward, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 19:26 (eight years ago) link
"These days we live in a culture that is more diverse, decentralized, interactive and democratized. The old days when gray-haired sages had all the answers about the ultimate issues of life are over."
r.i.p. gray-haired dude...
― scott seward, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 19:28 (eight years ago) link
he is for TPP in case ya missed it
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 May 2015 19:40 (eight years ago) link
(so he and T Friedman can clink glasses over that one)
Correction: May 5, 2015
An earlier version of this column misspelled the given name of a French philosopher. He was Jean-Paul Sartre, not John-Paul.
An even earlier version misspelled it as Ringo.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 19:55 (eight years ago) link
I think he was actually referring to Pope John-Paul Sartre. A gray-haired sage of the middle ages.
― scott seward, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 19:58 (eight years ago) link
http://images.politico.com/global/news/110705_brooks_bloggers_nbc_328.jpg
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 May 2015 19:59 (eight years ago) link
Being Nothingness
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 20:07 (eight years ago) link
As I travel on a book tour, I find there is an amazing hunger to shift the conversation.
lol
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:00 (eight years ago) link
"can we talk about something else besides your stupid book plz"
oh shit more conversation
i heard Brooks being interviewed for 15 mins on WNYC last week before realizing it wasn't James Woods on downers.
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:06 (eight years ago) link
Brooks and Woods comparison making my day
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:16 (eight years ago) link
the voices are closer than you might think!
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:17 (eight years ago) link
My disdain for Woods is earned since I usually made it halfway through a New Yorker article and then went uh, who is this jerk again? Oh, him.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:24 (eight years ago) link
James Woods, the David Brooks of literary criticism. Book him, Dan-O.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:34 (eight years ago) link
he means James Woods the actor, not James Wood the critic.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:38 (eight years ago) link
Ah hell. I was thinking "authorial" voice. Not unreasonably.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:45 (eight years ago) link
Except of course that there is no James Woods the critic. I see that now.
A joke about stopping by Wood on a snowy evening takes on a totally different meaning, doesn't it?
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:48 (eight years ago) link
I don't care much for his recs these days but James Wood was often a great critic although he looks like I imagine a New Yorker critic looks.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 May 2015 21:50 (eight years ago) link
I've heard that & figure there must be some reason for his reputation. As I hadn't paid attention, I can only go by what I've read in the New Yorker for the last ten years or so. It's sanctimony, it's unimaginative. He takes up the most boring issues one could have with books.
― Vic Perry, Tuesday, 5 May 2015 22:02 (eight years ago) link
If you have answers to these questions, go the website for my book, “The Road to Character,” click on First Steps and send in your response.
David Brooks, click-baiter.
I vaguely remember The Road to Character.
http://media.nola.com/tpphotos/photo/2014/11/10/16305462-standard.jpg
(l-r: gray-haired sages)
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 03:46 (eight years ago) link
Also I just noticed he was so excited about linking to his website that he left out a preposition. We really are without moral authorities these days, aren't we?
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 03:49 (eight years ago) link
i believe the oldest sage in that photo is the only one not wearing a very obvious rug.
― the increasing costive borborygmi (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 03:50 (eight years ago) link
http://the-toast.net/2015/05/05/david-brooks-writes-a-sestina-about-poverty/
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 15:44 (eight years ago) link
Krugman wrote a nice response
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/opinion/paul-krugman-race-class-and-neglect.html?_r=0
― Doktor Van Peebles (kingfish), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 20:56 (eight years ago) link
Every time you’re tempted to say that America is moving forward on race — that prejudice is no longer as important as it used to be — along comes an atrocity to puncture your complacency.
was surprised this turned out to not be a reference to Brooks' column tbh
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 6 May 2015 21:04 (eight years ago) link
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 6 May 2015 21:07 (eight years ago) link
is there a thread for discussing how bad kristof is?
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, 7 May 2015 15:16 (eight years ago) link
who's kristof
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 7 May 2015 15:24 (eight years ago) link
If so it needs some of this
https://sensemadehere.wordpress.com/2015/05/06/nick-kristof-is-not-smarter-than-an-8th-grader/
― Guayaquil (eephus!), Thursday, 7 May 2015 15:25 (eight years ago) link
yes came here to post that
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, 7 May 2015 15:28 (eight years ago) link
he's either a liar or very very stupid
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Thursday, 7 May 2015 15:29 (eight years ago) link
in which albert burnenko proposes that brooks sent his exwife a dick pic and is swimming in existential despair http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/i-dont-think-david-brooks-is-okay-you-guys-1702674607/+AlbertBurneko
― slothroprhymes, Thursday, 7 May 2015 20:27 (eight years ago) link
ok irl at this
http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--na-ypttb--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/1242070180469282708.jpg
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 7 May 2015 20:31 (eight years ago) link
good overview
― lag∞n, Thursday, 7 May 2015 21:18 (eight years ago) link
that krugman column linked above has its heart in the right place, but sentences like these make me cringe more than a little:
Take, for example, issues of health and mortality. Many people have pointed out that there are a number of black neighborhoods in Baltimore where life expectancy compares unfavorably with impoverished Third World nations. But what’s really striking on a national basis is the way class disparities in death rates have been soaring even among whites.
it's the phrase But what’s really striking that rankles. as if it's a competition between class and race! "yeah, i know racial disparities are profound, but what's really striking..."
― he quipped with heat (amateurist), Thursday, 7 May 2015 21:28 (eight years ago) link
also:
It has been disheartening to see some commentators still writing as if poverty were simply a matter of values, as if the poor just mysteriously make bad choices and all would be well if they adopted middle-class values. Maybe, just maybe, that was a sustainable argument four decades ago,
no, that was never a "sustainable" argument in re. structural poverty.
i mean krugman wants to make this all about the recent increase in inequality and all that portends, but in doing so he kind of hand-waves away some stuff that he really shouldn't be...
― he quipped with heat (amateurist), Thursday, 7 May 2015 21:30 (eight years ago) link
no, that was never a "sustainable" argument in re. structural poverty
yeah this bothered me too when I read it. as if there were not huge structural reasons for poverty 4 decades ago - "previous generations of poors were just bad decision makers" is not a historically valid argument imo.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 7 May 2015 21:32 (eight years ago) link
Krugman doesn't write felicitous prose. He concedes that his wife severely edits him.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 May 2015 21:32 (eight years ago) link
Fortunately to Brooks every generation of poors made bad decisions
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 7 May 2015 21:33 (eight years ago) link
at least previous generations of poors had elder sages to let them know what bad decisions they were making
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 7 May 2015 21:38 (eight years ago) link