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Mar. 18th, 2009 02:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gracheehaОдин американский дедушка, которому за 80, хиппи и мыслитель, прислал мне (и куче другого народа на его mail list) небезинтересный e-mail о комментариях в New York Times. Он обращает внимание на комментарии ко вчерашней колонке Давида Брукса The Commercial Republic - NYTimes.com
А дальше он объясняет: "The NY Times offers a real service with their display of comments on Opinion pieces. You can sequence the comments in any of several ways: chronologically, or by the reader rating (registered by the reader's option to approve or withhold approval), or by the NYTimes editorial board selection (which they tell you are based on "highlight[ing] the most interesting and thoughtful comments that represent a range of views."
I checked their selection out, myself, and observed that the editorial board recommendations were generally supportive of what Brooks had written, but only one of them had a reader approval count of more than a hundred. In contrast, the really high reader approval ratings went to the following half-dozen comments, and you can see how many approvals each of them actually scored, as well as getting a good taste of the reader response... "
А дальше он объясняет: "The NY Times offers a real service with their display of comments on Opinion pieces. You can sequence the comments in any of several ways: chronologically, or by the reader rating (registered by the reader's option to approve or withhold approval), or by the NYTimes editorial board selection (which they tell you are based on "highlight[ing] the most interesting and thoughtful comments that represent a range of views."
I checked their selection out, myself, and observed that the editorial board recommendations were generally supportive of what Brooks had written, but only one of them had a reader approval count of more than a hundred. In contrast, the really high reader approval ratings went to the following half-dozen comments, and you can see how many approvals each of them actually scored, as well as getting a good taste of the reader response... "
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
Yes, and there is a sucker born every minute. This is one of those few times in American history where the truth has been laid bare; our entire nation myth is exposed as a giant Ponzi scheme. Everyone can be rich = the stock market can only go up = housing values can only rise.
Oh yes, and the "smartest guys in the room" can destroy our economy and our dreams, and still get hundreds of millions in bonuses paid for by the people who they bilked out of billions.
If Americans weren't so brainwashed by advertising and the myth of capitalism, we'd be rioting in the streets. Instead, we're depressed because we feel that we have somehow failed. Blame the victim.
— Paul, California
Recommended by 511 Readers
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
Most of the folks you mention--like the preacher with the 6,000 sermons made money from the poor fools that listened. Just like the people who write and publish the get rich quick books get rich selling to the folks who never quite get rich. We may be a long time coming out of this downturn not because there aren't enough people writing about get rich quick schemes but because people like Jim Cramer (and Bernie Madeoffwithourloot) have been disgraced. And people like John Thain and Donald Trump are more revolting than imitated. I walk into a Wal-mart or Christmas Tree Shop and find myself surrounded by acres of crap I don't need or want and I'm not going to buy it. Maybe people in this country are just waking up to fact that our resources--substantial as they are--are also sacred and need to be exploited carefully and in a sustainable fashion. And I know "green" and "sustainable" will be all the rage in the language of marketing. But we may be a little more wise to that in the future. We need to be more careful, more thoughtful and not more consumptive.
— CQ, Maine
Recommended by 405 Readers
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
Greed and undeserved compensation are nauseating whatever the times. Now we find that the Citibank CEO was paid over $30M. For what? Even if his bank was not the pathetic disaster he and his managers have made it there is no sensible reason he should be paid so much. Salaries at many American financial institutions, Car makers, pharmaceutical makers, you name it, have become increasingly obscene for the last twenty or thirty years. Please don’t tell me that you cannot attract the best and the most talented. It has proved false.
A nurse who saves your life, a teacher who teaches you the most valuable lessons on your life, a pastor who helps you through a rough patch, are all paid less than $100K per year. Please will someone explain to me why financial gamblers who are such plain liars and crooks should be paid and rewarded for their crimes? What example does this give our children? What does it say to the world? What does it say about the values we bray to the world? Outrage is not enough. Revolution is needed, Mr. Brooks, if you like cycles, perhaps a revolutionary cycle is in order.
— Bob Sterry, Canby, Oregon
Recommended by 347 Readers
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
Dear Mr. Brooks:
Much of what you say is true, but won't you allow yourself, for even a second, to imagine a more perfect union, where the great commercial drive can be tempered by a government that does its best to ensure fair play and opportunity for all with better schools, and access to health care. A government that challenges us to aim higher with service to our communities and country. One that encourages us with incentives to be first in the world in developing clean energy and break our dependence on oil from countries that would prefer to dance on our graves. Or should we go right back, once this economic fog lifts, to the way we were one year ago today? Our MBA president and CEO VP did such a stellar job, didn't they?
— Billy, Detroit, MI
Recommend Recommended by 332 Readers
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
The price to be paid for the maniacal pursuit of anything is an indifference one must posses in order to be success-at-all-cost hardwired. I think there is something deeply perverse in celebrating such a disconnectedness from decency, and everyone's humanity should be judged by what they left in their life's wake. The conservative gospel of "everyone for themselves" seems rather one-dimensional to base a life's philosophy and the well-being of an entire society on it; it is not a solid foundation for a family, a community, or a nation.
— MK, Minnesota
Recommended by 321 Readers
March 17, 2009 7:10 am
Dear Mr. Brooks,
Thank you for this piece. I have never read an essay that more cogently and brilliantly explains why I am not a Republican.
You speak of America's irrepressible drive, blinding ambition, and rapacious quest for commercial success with the same loving devotion that most people reserve for a child or spouse. You imply that Europe is a place of dreamlessness and stagnation, and America is a place where happiness falls in dollar bills from the orchard of industry.
When did Europe become the poor step-child? Did it not give us Mozart, Shakespeare, and Michelangelo; the most superb museums and cathedrals in the world; a love of great music, literature, and art; a taste of the sublime? Are these to be vilified next to the billboards, junk food, trash television, raucous music, ugly cities, and vulgar language that now festoon our nation? Is Europe's love for the savoir vivre so distasteful? Is its concern for the health and education of its citizens so mundane?
When we recover from our debilitating malaise, Mr. Brooks, should we return to our former greatness, producing bigger houses, bigger cars, and more objects to fill them, consigning ourselves to an ever-churning, insatiable obsolescence?
What happened, Mr. Brooks, to the conservatism that once treasured family, love, beauty, and virtue? Were they just a veneer, hiding from us the great gifts of production?
I hope your America never returns. This country, at its heart, is a wonderful nation – for so many reasons that you fail to mention and may not fathom. And none of those reasons are commercial in their provenance.
— Steve Blevins, Oklahoma City
Recommended by 299 Readers
Yes, and there is a sucker born every minute. This is one of those few times in American history where the truth has been laid bare; our entire nation myth is exposed as a giant Ponzi scheme. Everyone can be rich = the stock market can only go up = housing values can only rise.
Oh yes, and the "smartest guys in the room" can destroy our economy and our dreams, and still get hundreds of millions in bonuses paid for by the people who they bilked out of billions.
If Americans weren't so brainwashed by advertising and the myth of capitalism, we'd be rioting in the streets. Instead, we're depressed because we feel that we have somehow failed. Blame the victim.
— Paul, California
Recommended by 511 Readers
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
Most of the folks you mention--like the preacher with the 6,000 sermons made money from the poor fools that listened. Just like the people who write and publish the get rich quick books get rich selling to the folks who never quite get rich. We may be a long time coming out of this downturn not because there aren't enough people writing about get rich quick schemes but because people like Jim Cramer (and Bernie Madeoffwithourloot) have been disgraced. And people like John Thain and Donald Trump are more revolting than imitated. I walk into a Wal-mart or Christmas Tree Shop and find myself surrounded by acres of crap I don't need or want and I'm not going to buy it. Maybe people in this country are just waking up to fact that our resources--substantial as they are--are also sacred and need to be exploited carefully and in a sustainable fashion. And I know "green" and "sustainable" will be all the rage in the language of marketing. But we may be a little more wise to that in the future. We need to be more careful, more thoughtful and not more consumptive.
— CQ, Maine
Recommended by 405 Readers
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
Greed and undeserved compensation are nauseating whatever the times. Now we find that the Citibank CEO was paid over $30M. For what? Even if his bank was not the pathetic disaster he and his managers have made it there is no sensible reason he should be paid so much. Salaries at many American financial institutions, Car makers, pharmaceutical makers, you name it, have become increasingly obscene for the last twenty or thirty years. Please don’t tell me that you cannot attract the best and the most talented. It has proved false.
A nurse who saves your life, a teacher who teaches you the most valuable lessons on your life, a pastor who helps you through a rough patch, are all paid less than $100K per year. Please will someone explain to me why financial gamblers who are such plain liars and crooks should be paid and rewarded for their crimes? What example does this give our children? What does it say to the world? What does it say about the values we bray to the world? Outrage is not enough. Revolution is needed, Mr. Brooks, if you like cycles, perhaps a revolutionary cycle is in order.
— Bob Sterry, Canby, Oregon
Recommended by 347 Readers
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
Dear Mr. Brooks:
Much of what you say is true, but won't you allow yourself, for even a second, to imagine a more perfect union, where the great commercial drive can be tempered by a government that does its best to ensure fair play and opportunity for all with better schools, and access to health care. A government that challenges us to aim higher with service to our communities and country. One that encourages us with incentives to be first in the world in developing clean energy and break our dependence on oil from countries that would prefer to dance on our graves. Or should we go right back, once this economic fog lifts, to the way we were one year ago today? Our MBA president and CEO VP did such a stellar job, didn't they?
— Billy, Detroit, MI
Recommend Recommended by 332 Readers
March 17, 2009 6:25 am
The price to be paid for the maniacal pursuit of anything is an indifference one must posses in order to be success-at-all-cost hardwired. I think there is something deeply perverse in celebrating such a disconnectedness from decency, and everyone's humanity should be judged by what they left in their life's wake. The conservative gospel of "everyone for themselves" seems rather one-dimensional to base a life's philosophy and the well-being of an entire society on it; it is not a solid foundation for a family, a community, or a nation.
— MK, Minnesota
Recommended by 321 Readers
March 17, 2009 7:10 am
Dear Mr. Brooks,
Thank you for this piece. I have never read an essay that more cogently and brilliantly explains why I am not a Republican.
You speak of America's irrepressible drive, blinding ambition, and rapacious quest for commercial success with the same loving devotion that most people reserve for a child or spouse. You imply that Europe is a place of dreamlessness and stagnation, and America is a place where happiness falls in dollar bills from the orchard of industry.
When did Europe become the poor step-child? Did it not give us Mozart, Shakespeare, and Michelangelo; the most superb museums and cathedrals in the world; a love of great music, literature, and art; a taste of the sublime? Are these to be vilified next to the billboards, junk food, trash television, raucous music, ugly cities, and vulgar language that now festoon our nation? Is Europe's love for the savoir vivre so distasteful? Is its concern for the health and education of its citizens so mundane?
When we recover from our debilitating malaise, Mr. Brooks, should we return to our former greatness, producing bigger houses, bigger cars, and more objects to fill them, consigning ourselves to an ever-churning, insatiable obsolescence?
What happened, Mr. Brooks, to the conservatism that once treasured family, love, beauty, and virtue? Were they just a veneer, hiding from us the great gifts of production?
I hope your America never returns. This country, at its heart, is a wonderful nation – for so many reasons that you fail to mention and may not fathom. And none of those reasons are commercial in their provenance.
— Steve Blevins, Oklahoma City
Recommended by 299 Readers