Reason contributing editor Kerry Howley slaps David Brooks around for the columnist's fallacy of drawing the Big Lesson out of a couple of vaguely related recent events—in this case, Kanye West and Rep. Joe "You Lie!" Wilson.
David Brooks alerts us to the fact that a congressman said something rude at a presidential speech, and a musician interrupted an awards show. “This isn’t the death of the West,” he reassures us. Good to know! But what is it? Why, it’s the death of all that is good and humble in this world, and the subsequent rise of “expressive individualism.” At some point between 1945 and today, we have crossed “a sort of narcissism line.”...
This may be the product of blinkered, post-1945 reasoning, but it seems to me that West’s sideshow and Wilson’s outburst together signify . . . nothing. There is nothing telling, interesting, or indicative about two men acting out at a couple of awkwardly staged performances. The way millions of people react to them, on the other hand, matters very much. And if you’re like David Brooks, you’ll see the attacks on West and Wilson as a collective outcry against the vulgar monstrosity that is our culture. If you’re like me, you’ll see this reaction as a collective insistence on deference to authority, a pathetic inability to tolerate the meekest of incivilities. Either way, whatever it might mean when 270 representatives spend valuable time excoriating a single man for a two-word declarative statement, it probably doesn’t have much to do with the triumph of individualism over conformity.
Brooks and the Washington Post's Michael Gerson hammer out about a dozen columns a year with this formula. Find an event or two from recent headlines, one of which generally involves pop-culture, connect them, then earnestly explain how they're symbolic of how far we've strayed from A Better Time.
Me, I think America would be a better place if more people were more rude to more politicians more often.
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSS
Editor's Note: We invite comments and request that they be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of Reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time.
|9.16.09 @ 5:33PM|#
Preston Brooks v. Charles Sumner
Anyone who's familiar with 18th and 19th century US history knows that political attacks used to be far sharper in public campaigning.
Perhaps the "expressive individualism" and crossing of the "sort of narcissism line" is that no Democratic Congressman had the loyalty to challenge Rep. Joe Wilson to a formal duel in order to defend his President's honor.
|9.16.09 @ 5:33PM|#
He forgot to mention Serena Williams. Fortunately the LAT connects the dots for us.
Attorney|9.16.09 @ 5:34PM|#
Brooks and the Washington Post's Michael Gerson hammer out about a dozen columns a year with this formula. Find an event or two from recent headlines, one of which generally involves pop-culture, connect them, then earnestly explain how they're symbolic of how far we've strayed from A Better Time.
Half the chattering class would be out of work if they had to give up this formula.
db|9.16.09 @ 5:37PM|#
I think that public rudeness to politicians is inversely proportional to a politician's power to bring about consequences to his constituents on an individual level. The people whose opinions really matter to politicians (those who finance their campaigns) tend to be more conciliatory if they allow the politicians too much power over them on an individual level.
Paul|9.16.09 @ 5:40PM|#
David Brooks... he's that insufferable blowhard, no?
|9.16.09 @ 5:41PM|#
Me, I think America would be a better place if more people were more rude to more politicians more often.
And I might finallly have a place in this cold and lonely world.
|9.16.09 @ 5:41PM|#
Come on, we haven't had a good brawl like this one in a while:
Paul|9.16.09 @ 5:42PM|#
But seriously, if David Brooks wants us to return to a time when the President drank quietly in the White House, stood around stoicly, didn't talk much and did as much as possible to avoid doing anything that sprang from "big ideas" then yes, I'm with him, let's get back to That Better Time.
|9.16.09 @ 5:48PM|#
Howley probably is right that Brooks' column is goofy. But I'm not sure about her own conclusion, either.
It's really hard for me to see the public outcry against Kanye West as "a collective insistence on deference to authority." People are upset about West not because he failed to defer to authority, but because he failed to defer to an innocent-looking teenage girl during her sunshiney moment.
People are mad at West because he acted like a bully, not because he didn't show "deference" to one.
|9.16.09 @ 5:50PM|#
"Reason contributing editor Kerry Howley slaps David Brooks around"
I'm not into rough play, but she's welcome to slap me around anytime she wants.
Mike M.|9.16.09 @ 5:52PM|#
Burr vs. Hamilton was a pretty good one. They don't battle like that anymore!
Gilbert Martin|9.16.09 @ 5:54PM|#
I recall some other nonsense from Brooks in the same veign not too long ago.
He was invoking John Ford westerns as teaching us "lessons" of collective and cooperative purpose.
He was decrying "excessive" individiualism and said the Republicans were too capitve to it or some such crap and that the GOP would be losing the votes of all the young folks, who, according to Brooks, are all gung ho for collective endeavors/purpose.
|9.16.09 @ 5:55PM|#
Me, I think America would be a better place if more people treated politicians with the respect they deserve.
IOW, I totally agree.
Gilbert Martin|9.16.09 @ 5:56PM|#
argh - same vein
|9.16.09 @ 5:58PM|#
People are mad at West because he acted like a bully, not because he didn't show "deference" to one.
No people are mad at Kanye for the same reason they're mad at Obama: they're racist motherfuckers.
Paul|9.16.09 @ 5:58PM|#
Me, I think America would be a better place if more people treated politicians with the respect they deserve.
That would be racist.
|9.16.09 @ 5:59PM|#
Obama's a racist motherfucker for calling West an "asshole?"
|9.16.09 @ 6:00PM|#
argh - same vein
RUN!!! IT'S A VAMPIRE PIRATE!!!
|9.16.09 @ 6:01PM|#
Politicians should be treated like dogs (ala Vick not "Best in Show") and never revered or even referred to as leaders. Their self-aggrandizing, delusional title of Public Servant is a gross misnomer.
|9.16.09 @ 6:02PM|#
I think anyone who has actually seen the Taylor Swift video knows that it is she who owes US an apology.
Suki|9.16.09 @ 6:02PM|#
"Reason contributing editor Kerry Howley slaps David Brooks around"
I'm not into rough play, but she's welcome to slap me around anytime she wants.
This thread will NOT be forwarded to beloved boyfriend!
On topic, from what I understand, 1945 is not the greatest year to pick for pretty, nice society. I think I like the one we have now, where everybody can use the same waterfountain.
Mike M.|9.16.09 @ 6:02PM|#
Obama's a racist motherfucker for calling West an "asshole?"
Remember, Obama is half white!
Paul|9.16.09 @ 6:10PM|#
I think anyone who has actually seen the Taylor Swift video knows that it is she who owes US an apology.
Kerry Howley speaks fluent bitch... *snap*snap*
|9.16.09 @ 6:13PM|#
Dammit, J Sub @ 5:55 pm, that was my post to the letter.
So, John, when in the middle of that brawl
The Speaker shouted and rapped for order,
Does that mean the Speaker busted some mad rhymes?
Neu Mejican|9.16.09 @ 6:21PM|#
"Jackass" not "asshole"
Sheesh.
Anyway, he's a gay fish, so I'm going to shove this ball down your fuckin' throat!
Anyway...what Tom said. A David Brooks vs. KMW slap fight is bound to be full of pretty weak slap action.
WHifff
Whiff
Whiff
Whiff
Neu Mejican|9.16.09 @ 6:24PM|#
And speaking of keeping your eye on the ball, Joe Wilson is a politician in a co-equal branch of government, so his break from etiquette was not about deference to "authority" but to civility.
|9.16.09 @ 6:24PM|#
Well, I don't think we need any more rudeness anywhere, as much fun as it might be. Wilson should have just let out a big horselaugh, which would have made his point even better. And I'd like to see the Democrats try to censure someone for laughing.
Suki|9.16.09 @ 6:27PM|#
Does that mean the Speaker busted some mad rhymes?
Yo, yo, yo, RCD, that's the way I'm takin' it an' shit.
New Albionian|9.16.09 @ 6:52PM|#
A David Brooks vs. KMW slap fight is bound to be full of pretty weak slap action.
WHifff
Whiff
Whiff
Whiff
What does KMW have to do with this post? Idiot.
Just like the "hackery" comment on another thread, the only "whiffing" being done here is by you and your misguided and lame slap attempt. Since snide attacks are clearly not your strong suit, perhaps you should avoid them.
hmm|9.16.09 @ 6:58PM|#
The sky is always falling somewhere. Or at least there is a newsman who says it is.
Nothing new. This is the same retarded meme of I carried a crippled kid, up hill (both ways), with books weighing 80 pounds, in the snow, with wild animals chasing just to go to school every day and I loved every minute of it.
|9.16.09 @ 7:03PM|#
I think America would be a better place if more politicians were more rude to more people more often.
Collectively we could use a board upside the head right now.
Unsustainable fiscal policy, diminishing global influence, poor environmental sustainability, regulatory incoherence.
While our elected leadership tries to assuage us with lies in pursuit of reelection.
jester|9.16.09 @ 7:33PM|#
The FCC makes sure that Taylor Swift videos aren't worth watching.
jester|9.16.09 @ 7:35PM|#
"if more people were more rude to more politicians more often."
Thanks for the reminder: toss off you slimy bitch race-baiting ex-President Carter. Go back to growing subsidized peanuts you leech.
Basement dweller|9.16.09 @ 7:38PM|#
In fact, Columnist's Fallacy would be a great name for this.
jester|9.16.09 @ 7:39PM|#
As for Kanye West, I am disappointed. I thought for sure that someone of his intellectual stature ("Bush hates black people" distillation of FEMA incompetence) would be smart enough to see a pattern that rendered Awards Shows as irrevelant. But then super-intellectual Bono made the same mistake when he was overtaken by Atomic Kitten some years back. Solution: supergroup The Einsteins (Kanye + Bono).
</|9.16.09 @ 7:43PM|#
David Brooks?...low-hanging fruit.
|9.16.09 @ 7:47PM|#
At the beginning of each session, every congressman should get 12 tomatoes. They can throw them as they see fit.
guy in the back row|9.16.09 @ 8:23PM|#
John Thacker - Thanks for the laugh!
|9.16.09 @ 8:28PM|#
Neu-
Wilson did not offend civility. Do those who interrupt the president with applause or boos or hisses offend civility?
Civility needs truth in order to work.
Our heritage of holding politicians and other state actors accountable for their behavior and our historical disdain for those who would choose to feed at the public trough is rich and undoubted. Respect for parliamentary scoundrels, kings, welfare queens and all other rent seekers was not one of the animating principles of 1776.
Just because one is the first "African" "American" president does not mean that one is immune from being called out for one's racist, affirmative action, reparations lovin communist ways.
ed|9.16.09 @ 8:36PM|#
Warren | September 16, 2009, 5:33pm | #
He forgot to mention Serena Williams.
Serena's outburst doesn't bother me as much as her subsequent "I don't remember doing it" explanation. She, like Chris Brown, used the amnesia defense and utterly sabotaged any hope of sympathy or respect. She lied, badly.
Janeane Garofalo|9.16.09 @ 8:55PM|#
She lied, badly.
That's racism, straight up.
jester|9.16.09 @ 9:05PM|#
James "Jimmy" Earl Carter, Laureate, Nobel Prize for Shameless Cunt.
Q: When did you realize that you had it in you to be a shameless cunt of the level required to win the Nobel Prize?
Carter: At a young age, a leech attached itself to my body and I was amazed that a creature could sustain itself by doing nothing less than sucking off of another with little effort. That event became a model for my life.
Kanye West|9.16.09 @ 9:19PM|#
I can speak for myself.
|9.16.09 @ 9:20PM|#
In tribute to Kanye, Comedy Central played the "Gay Fish" episode 4 times in a row last night. Was that deference to authority?
I note that Brooks doesn't decry the excessive individualism of having his own column and bank accounts.
Suki|9.16.09 @ 9:37PM|#
In tribute to Kanye, Comedy Central played the "Gay Fish" episode 4 times in a row last night. Was that deference to authority?
Um, just guessin' from the theme of the day I have to guess racism.
grump|9.16.09 @ 9:44PM|#
Yeah, sure, republican government would work so much better if politicians interrupted each other constantly. Talk about wearing your ideology on your sleeve.
alan|9.16.09 @ 9:48PM|#
What makes a person hate individualism, of all things. Did he watch Easy Rider at a tender young age, and the green light at the end scare the little bastard? Got his head caught up in a freak flag and almost suffocated to death?
What's his story? This ain't natural.
jester|9.16.09 @ 10:38PM|#
James "Jimmy" Earl Carter, Congressional Medal of Freakdom recipient
Q: When did you realize that you could contort your body and hold liquid in the form of a giant douche?
Carter: I still can't. Even with the sagging skin of old age. I am only a giant douche metaphorically speaking.
jester|9.16.09 @ 10:43PM|#
James "Jimmy" Earl Carter, contributor to peanut allergies
Q:Do you have anything to say for yourself?
Carter: No, I really don't have to. Instead, I echo cockamamie bullshit so as to draw away from the really really really shrill Left.
jester|9.16.09 @ 10:55PM|#
James "Jimmy" Earl Carter, celibate
Q:When did you give up on sex?
Carter: When I realized during the sexual revolution that I'd have to treat Roslyn's fur pie like it was my beloved peach pie.
jester|9.16.09 @ 11:03PM|#
James "Jimmy" Earl Carter, senior citizen
Q:Why are you a devisive scum-sucking race-baiting asshole?
Carter: I'll do anything to stay in the news cycle. What's wrong with that.
Joe M|9.16.09 @ 11:14PM|#
David Brooks wrote:
He's obviously just a jealous asshole. I was bartending the night of that speech, and everyone in the place agreed, he can talk as long as he wants; he's earned it. It didn't seem self-indulgent at all. But I guess that could just be the difference between New York City and suburban/small town Texas.
jester|9.16.09 @ 11:18PM|#
James "Jimmy" Earl Carter, dead
Observation: Even Ted's out of the news cycle now. Go on living you stupid fuck. And keep uttering your fucking bullshit every once in a while to remind us all that even stupid fucks can be President of the United States and the United States can survive such stupid fucks.
That is your legacy you disgusting pile of shit.
jester|9.16.09 @ 11:20PM|#
Wow! Purgation! I feel better now.
JB|9.16.09 @ 11:39PM|#
"Me, I think America would be a better place if more people were more rude to more politicians more often."
THIS
THIS
THIS
Hacha Cha|9.16.09 @ 11:55PM|#
yeah the cane fight was crazy but so was the fight that started between Rep. Keitt and Speaker of the House Grow and broke out into a fight involving 12 congressmen.
Suki|9.16.09 @ 11:58PM|#
jester,
Much LOL for you!
|9.17.09 @ 12:06AM|#
Me, I think America would be a better place if more people were more rude to more politicians more often.
I think America would be an even better place if some the politicians who are the most proficient at taking away our freedoms were occasionally made an object lesson of by someone extremely vigorously exercising their Second Amendment rights.
Or as Ben Franklin put it, "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
jester|9.17.09 @ 12:45AM|#
Suki,
thnx,
big kiss
Paul|9.17.09 @ 2:25AM|#
Or as Ben Franklin put it, "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
I love that quote, but it's a false attribution to Ben Franklin.
Neu Mejican|9.17.09 @ 3:34AM|#
Indeed, KH, not KMW.
Oh well...doesn't improve the slap action.
Neu Mejican|9.17.09 @ 3:36AM|#
libertymike,
In case you missed it.
The point was...Obama is not of higher rank than congress. JW can't be accused of not deferring to authority when being uncivil to the co-equal branch.
Jim Treacher|9.17.09 @ 5:07AM|#
Help us out, Kerry: In what way is allowing Taylor Swift to accept a dumb award for a dumb video promoting a dumb song considered "deference to authority"?
|9.17.09 @ 10:06AM|#
"Me, I think America would be a better place if more people were more rude to more politicians more often."
While you may think that acting like an asshole is synonymous with "individualism", I personally don't believe one can truly be an expressive individual until he or she gets over their goddam self. I think that was the point of Brooks' column.
Spartacus|9.17.09 @ 11:28AM|#
Find an event or two from recent headlines, one of which generally involves pop-culture, connect them, then earnestly explain how they're symbolic of how far we've strayed from A Better Time.
This sounds like my wife's daily monologues. Now I know where she gets them from. Thanks.
JB|9.17.09 @ 1:21PM|#
Help us out, Kerry: In what way is allowing Taylor Swift to accept a dumb award for a dumb video promoting a dumb song considered "deference to authority"?
It's the authority of ceremony, tradition, and those who run the MTV awards.
|9.17.09 @ 2:11PM|#
Taylor Swift acted how she was supposed to act, just like people at Burning Man act like tools, as they are supposed to. But we say "ohh, doing what you're supposed on MTV isn't cool, but doing what you're supposed at Burning Man is totally awesome." I, for one, don't buy it.