RIP David Brooks

being there: the david brooks story

“In my experience,” he writes, “a telos crisis comes in two forms, walking and sleeping.” Couples experience eight stages of intimacy. “There are four kinds of unkindness that drive couples apart."

(1) Turns both subtle and obvious
(2) Coming of age writing for The Weekly Standard
(3) Detailing trowels or grills
(4) “Jesus is the person who shows us what giving yourself away looks like.”

It’s so wild to me when people say they’re absolutely certain someone they know didn’t do x y or z. I wouldn’t say that about my best friend or my sibling, man. You don’t know what people are capable of!

but god told him so

There are four kinds of unkindness

this stuff makes you long for the hard-edged realpolitik of a thomas friedman

each unkindness can be turbocharged to an even lower kindness level by any one of nine cruelties

i swear now I see Brooks stuff or stuff about him and the only logical conclusion is that there is a high level media conspiracy to troll Alfred

Did you guys know that the term “bobo” actually caught on in france?

It comes from Bourgeois Bohème, and Brooks most definitely didn't make it up, it's been around for ages in France (Paris).

Trivia: It caught on in the Netherlands from 1988 on when Ruud Gullit called annoying sports directors, who are too prominent, 'bobo's', from Bondsbons.

lbi otm

The late Tony Judt’s short passage here is all you will ever need to know about David Brooks and his “research” pic.twitter.com/AgNGqB5r9r

— Moshik Temkin (@moshik_temkin) May 3, 2019

I have made fun of and/or rolled my eyes at most of his columns over the past however many years, but I listened to him on the Ezra Klein Show this week, and I have to admit that a lot of it resonated with me. Maybe I am just in the right place for it, feeling weary and cynical about the value systems I have accepted for most of my adult life.

My one criticism is that he seems to think that "politics" is something that can just be waved away as not essential to one's identity, and I think he doesn't recognize the privilege in that statement.

I mean, you’re talking about a guy whose business card says “fatuous oaf”

xp jaymc we're glad you're finally here, sit down, we need to talk

I mean, you’re talking about a guy whose business card says “fatuous oaf”

If this was true I would like Brooks so much.

I listened to him on the Ezra Klein Show this week, and I have to admit that a lot of it resonated with me.

He is successful in part for the same reason Jordan Peterson is successful -- there's some core to the message that's reasonable and even admirable (Brooks: individualism and success-worship is overrated and a sense of communal fellow-feeling is probably good for both you and society; Peterson: clean your damn room, nobody's stopping you) but that basic reasonable core is always predominantly deployed in the service of unpleasant score-settling (Brooks: the real problem with society is filthy rich Harvard liberals who worship success, individualism, and atheism and don't get that salt-of-the-earth small-town Nebraska is Real and Where It's At; Peterson: when your room is messy it looks like the nasty inside of a lady and you have to clean it up to be a Real Self-Respecting Man and by dint of that status get to explore the nasty inside of a lady)

To be clear, I think Brooks is infinitely better than Peterson

Brooks seems like someone who simultaneously can't envision meaning without a concept of God, and wishes he could believe in religion without doubts like those good folks in the flyover states.

https://www.theonion.com/david-brooks-decries-incivility-of-modern-plumbing-afte-1834954527

go fuck yourself

https://i.imgur.com/DNE5bf5.jpg

drive yourself into a river of fire

he’s still alive huh

― grim-n-gritty hooty reboot (bizarro gazzara), Friday, 19 January 2018 21:25 (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

C'mon Dems. If you want David Brooks to leave the party he's been married to for decades, you have to put something on the table and be a little more centrist, willing to please, nubile, and sensuous.

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) June 28, 2019

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2804/0854/products/Mace_Brand_KeyGuard_Mini_Black_1_1024x1024.jpg?v=1530807023

the fact that obama and biden take this fucking goon seriously is a real indictment of their worldview

Yes. We should all cater specifically to the needs and desires of David Brooks, because he is America's Everyman, perfectly typifying the lives we all lead as grossly overpaid NYT columnists and B-List media celebrities.

Cory Booker is a fan too, he loves The Second Wife.

I only wear New Balance because Nike was a goddess in a Greek culture that practiced slavery.

— David Brooks (@nytdavidbrooks) July 2, 2019

holy shit he needs to be punched in the mouth

new balance also the choice of the discerning white supermacist for a while there iirc, makes u think

lol like there was ever a second of doubt that Brooks wears chunky white New Balance

kinda figured him for and1s tbh

he might be enough of an 80s yuppie to rock khaki shorts and loafers w no socks

hell I do

Yeah but you can pull it off

after extensive GIS research I regret to inform ilx that I cannot find pics of David Brooks wearing shorts, or anything other than a suit

I cannot find pics of David Brooks wearing shorts, or anything other than a suit

His one admirable quality. No man over the age of 30 should wear shorts in public, and that's being generous.

fortunately, unperson has always been a fount of generosity when Lord Sotosyn's involved.

a shitty columnist over 30 in shorts u say

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sW65ilskOC8/SnDSeirAm7I/AAAAAAAAY9k/FEqUPL1gHjs/s400/JonahGoldberginCar.jpg

His one admirable quality. No man over the age of 30 should wear shorts in public, and that's being generous.

― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Tuesday, July 2, 2019 4:05 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

question: what do you wear when it's over 100 degrees every day so that you dont feel like dying

a: shorts, you fuckin weirdos

question: what do you wear when it's over 100 degrees every day so that you dont feel like dying

Where I live it (currently, but who knows in a few years) doesn't get above the mid 90s, but I wear jeans and T-shirts about 350 days a year. The rest of the time I wear khakis. I limit my time outdoors and keep the air conditioner on at home.

in general, life is better lived when you don't tell strangers what kind fo clothes they can't wear

if you (are a white guy over 30 and) don't wear shorts, your legs look weird and pale and spindly and hairy when you're naked

xpost

it (currently, but who knows in a few years) {...} keep the air conditioner on at home.

🤔

I limit my time outdoors and keep the air conditioner on at home.

what a thrilling existence

i mean no lie i spend a lot of time indoors bc the heat is oppressive but thats also why i wear shorts

https://media.giphy.com/media/l1K9DfyDTJoNmma3e/giphy.gif

what a thrilling existence

Home is where my books and CDs are. What does the outside world have that can compete? Other people? Fuck that.

the outside world has shorts