Spotlight NYT: Two recent columns are "must reads" for anyone who likes to keep the thinking lobes of their brains engaged. Both are steeped in insight and irony of the kind a Boomer might like, and together the two neatly bookmark each pole of the American spectrum that runs from over- to under-thinking.
In the first piece, Paul Krugman deftly skewers the new cult of know-nohing politics and the people who think too little. In the second hit of this double header, David Brooks lampoons the "social pseud" who wants to appear as if he thinks so much, you could never keep up.
Follow the story jump for links and detail.
Real Men Don't Think
In the first piece, Paul Krugman deftly skewers the new cult of know-nothing politics. I think of such folk as the New Flat Earthers (NFE) and agree with Krugman that to pander to anti-intellectual sentiments at this point in time is especially pernicious when we need our best brains on deck to wrestle a host of complex questions.But for the NFE, there is always a simple solution to a complex truth: ignore the facts for as long as it takes to find a new belief. The largest recent example was Saddam and WMD. More examples include the misleading campaign for more offshore drilling
Forget that it will take ten years to perhaps save us a dime at the pump. The real aim is to make the less potent feel like "real men" who get things done without being wimps.
But PK sums it up much better than I can; read his whole essay here.
Lord of the Memes
David Brooks lampoons the other end of the spectrum where the point is to have it seem like you have an extra large brain.In his half of this double-header, Brooks does a riotous send-up of the ways people fake looking learned and follows his hypothetical "social pseud" through much of the late 20th century, after which he muses on how we form and spread opinion today.
If you have ever been buttonholed by a windy pretentious social climber, you will be groaning in sympathy at this too, this time with a very large grin on the side. Read it here.
As a twin set read on consecutive days, these two essays combined set me to
thinking about the ways in which we do and don't flex our mental
muscles in modern times.
I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that the bell curve of our collective intelligence seems to be morphing into a U with a growing gap between those who love learning and those who resist it. It all has an echo of the "bipolar" quality we see in economics too, where a shrinking middle is now shouldered between the growing bulges of Haves and Nots.
Speaking just for myself, it feels like it's time to go Google on "Boomers for Obama" to see what I find.
PS.. One of the links found after the surfing above led to the bumper sticker below. Click on the image if you'd like to own one.
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