RIP David Brooks

so you're saying perceived cultural differences are being used as a wedge issue to dissolve class consciousness before it can even appear. interesting, i wonder if anyone has ever predicted this

xxp and xp: Yep.

I'm no historian, so I assume I'm missing something, but I found that Yakima piece's point elusive. Why call these people "gentry" and talk so much about the assets they own, when they are almost all capitalists who employ labor? He mentions owning apartment complexes as one form of gentry-hood, but not many of the other examples involved rent, which is more what I would associate with that term. Sorry to be a dull marxist, but what about that piece isn't captured by "[local] capitalists own the means of production, and therefore wield [local] social and political power"...?

I think his point was more that these businesses are mostly inherited and are basically just printing money at this point.

sorry to be the other dull capitalist but yep that's how capital works.

like five times a year there is some shitty diagnosis of america's problems that dimly sees some fragment of capitalism and acts like it's de toqueville. sorry but not sorry to be so dismissive since really when has anything mentioned by david brooks EVER been worth thinking about or talking about?

dull marxist i mean. i need to be off the internet today

I wouldn't say he's diagnosing America's ills, it's more that he's talking about narratives - the local gentry (who are extractive but not entrepreneurial at this point because the money printing operations are running on their own) are the Republican base but generally receive less coverage as elites (leading to Cletus Safaris and the myth that it was working class whites who form the backbone of Trumpism, for one).

The finance bros and billionaire class who are more prominent the public consciousness are about as likely to be Democrats (of a sort) these days, their internationalist capitalism is grating to nationalist capitalists (a tale as old as fascism). And the callback to medieval and Roman mores of violence call to mind the likelihood of the state giving up its monopoly - what's the Thiel/Nextdooor app that wants to become a private police force?

this is more or less haute vs petit bourgeoisie right? what’s new about the specific alignments & disjunctures noted here? there *are* new things happening in this regard but are they in this piece? not sure what to do with the pre-capitalist references either, do we need them here

thread needs to turn back to straight David Brooks h8

My TV isn't working so my Friday nights have been so peaceful, compared to David-Brooks-on-PBS rageful

milo: I think you must be talking about the Brooks piece, which I didn't read lol, as I don't think the words Republican or Democrat appear in the Wyman piece. I believe Citizen is the private vigilantism app you're thinking of.

The word "capitalism" doesn't appear in the Wyman either, which is what initially irked me. And yeah having a subscription to Harpers during the W years made me kneejerk recoil to essays that reach back to the classical period to make points about present-day USA, though at least Lapham was talking about American imperialism not people who own a handful of McDonalds franchises

Sorry quincie! I started reading the Brooks, but had to bail as soon as I read: "We had a clear idea of what class conflict, when it came, would look like—members of the working classes would align with progressive intellectuals to take on the capitalist elite."

I'm talking about Wyman, you'd have to pay me to read a word of David Brooks. He doesn't mention Republican or Democrat, but they're tacit elements in play any time you're talking about the American civil order, where power lies and urban/rural issues. The people he's talking about are now cruising along at 85%+ Republican, right?

I don't see a problem using historical illustration - and the issue you raise about his use of gentry is part of that. A primarily rentier gentry is a more modern concept than local lords that profit in other ways (such as using forced labor from serfs and slaves for their profit making concerns).

(I don’t think there are any earth-shattering revelations there but it’s a blog post so it would be a bit of a miracle if there were.)

To me, the Wyman piece reinforces how geographically defined our 2 political parties have become. Democrats are the party of the big cities, Republicans are the party of the small towns. Within those geographic boundaries, the party alignment cuts across class and income distinctions, to a surprising extent. Demographically, big cities are the future, but due to some quirks of our constitution, small towns get a disproportionate representation in Washington, so the GOP punches above its weight at the national level.

I fixed my TV just so I could hate watch DB tonight :(

Democrats are the party of the big cities, Republicans are the party of the small towns.

Worth noting, though, that Democrats are also the party of the small cities. There are a lot of them and they add up.

at least we're not talking about David Brooks or his puddle-deep thoughts any more

It's Friday, which means I hate-watched DB on the PBS Newshour, which means I started googling DB shit, which means I looked at his bullshit project with the fucking aspen institute, which got me to read this and now I am so filled with DB hate aaaaaaaagh AGH https://weareweavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Weave-Relationalist-Manifesto.pdf

I mean I didn't really read it, who could possibly even, I mean for god's sake, UGH why does it exist and why does David Brooks exist, in my life, I didn't ask for this I swear

Weeeeee are weavers
I believe Brooks can get me through the night

it met an intern two and a half decades younger https://t.co/eH3YYzXf02

— inverted vibe curve: burgertown must be defended (@PatBlanchfield) December 8, 2021

lol

some real uh insights here

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/13/opinion/america-falling-apart.html

i dunno david could it be your cohort of conservative boomers who systematically sacrificed union protections and every semblance of bottom-up community solidarity it could find in exchange for lining the pockets of the ruling class?? NAWWWW it’s probably… cancel culture or something

I had a moment's joy in my heart.

then you found out he was still alive

Yes, that was the letdown.

But there must also be some spiritual or moral problem at the core of this. Over the past several years, and over a wide range of different behaviors, Americans have been acting in fewer pro-social and relational ways and in more antisocial and self-destructive ways. But why?

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/MUBVq2pxBZY/maxresdefault.jpg

Because the people who have the most stuff don't want to share it with people who have less stuff, especially the ones who don't look like them.

either way it definitely comes down to choices that people make on an individual level, nothing wrong with that framework at all

THIS FUCKING GUY

SHUT UP

SHUT UP

SHUT UUUUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!!!!!

in a fair society david brooks's pooping out his columns would be considered antisocial behavior

they totally are

in a fair society David Brooks' head would be on a pike as you Uber into Poughkeepsie.

Alfred,you cribbed that from Rodgers and Hammerstein

i imagine the Brooks head turning like a Billy Bass as your car speeds past, croaking, "i don't get it"

lol

lol Tracer

also fuck this guy

Did the his wedding video get linked/discussed itt?

oh lord. will it make me puke?

I can’t find it now, which is honestly a blessing for us all. I really don’t know where to begin describing it. The whole video was quite middlebrow cheesy (ok gross snobbery on my part, yes) in a way that was surprising to me? Like, a whole super-staged “first look” sequence that as you can imagine was like “oh how nice the bride joining her fatherrrrrrrrrr oh shit”

Not to mention the “oh look at the Black youth we have as guests because MORALITY or whatever oh god it was AWFUL, can’t unseen.

Like, a whole super-staged “first look” sequence that as you can imagine was like “oh how nice the bride joining her fatherrrrrrrrrr oh shit”

Ngl, going to have a party when this guy croaks.

I will host. It will be a multi-day affair, pack accordingly.

My headstone will read “loved horses and hated David Brooks”

Not to mention the “oh look at the Black youth we have as guests because MORALITY or whatever oh god it was AWFUL, can’t unseen.

― mom tossed in kimchee (quincie), Saturday, January 15, 2022 12:16 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

okay, would definitely puke

Have we talked about Weave, another nauseating David Brooks project:

https://www.aspeninstitute.org/programs/weave-the-social-fabric-initiative/

Weaving is a way of life and a state of mind, not a set of actions. It’s about the spirit of caring you bring to each interaction with someone else. It’s a willingness to be open and loving, whether you get anything in return. As humans, we long for honest, deep connection. Weavers make the effort to build those connections and make others feel valued.

actions optional

aspeninstitute url is a dead giveaway that it is a bunch of bourgeois moonbeams