October 23, 2007

NYT on neo-nepotism and JPod

The New York Times has an interesting article on Jpod taking over as editor of Commentary, cleverly tying it to the 2003 book by Adam Bellow, In Praise of Nepotism:

New Commentary Editor Denies Neo-Nepotism

By Patricia Cohen

The new appointment puts three generations of Podhoretzes at the magazine, with Norman holding the title of editor at large and his grandson Sam Munson as online editor. Of course, the ancestral streak is not exactly surprising. The Podhoretz, Kagan (Fred, Donald, Robert and Kimberly) and Kristol clans have dominated the movement for 40 years.

“There’s a family business aspect to the neoconservative enterprise,” said Mr. Bellow, whose book “In Praise of Nepotism” was published in 2003. Such kinship ties are part of “a very broad phenomenon across American society; it’s not really right to single out neoconservatives."

(Here's my review-essay on Bellow's "In Praise of Nepotism" in The National Interest.)

The NYT reporter had asked me:
"How is he [JPod] thought of in conservative circles?"
I replied:
Among conservative intellectuals, John Podhoretz is widely considered proof of the statistical tendency toward regression beneath the mean. The only reason he has a career is because he is, as they say in Little Italy, connected.

As blogger Larry Auster has been pointing out, only one of his many colleagues at National Review Online's group blog, The Corner, has congratulated him on his ascension. On Tuesday morning, Kathryn Jean Lopez ("K-Lo") offered this minimalist salute:
Congrats Are in Order [Kathryn Jean Lopez]

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

8 comments:

craig said...

Bravo! Well done take down of John P Normanson. One which JPod richly deserves.

Anonymous said...

Excellent!

Steve Sailer versus MiniPod.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if JPod's new job will cause him to spend less time on The Corner. I have to admit that I might actually miss him. Not, mind you, because of any direct contribution he makes, but because he is an opponent on immigration, and you can't have a debate without an opponent.

Sure he's a jerk, but it's nice to see him raise his head above the open borders trench every so often only to get gunned down by Krikorian and The Derb. Those guys are firing M60s while JPod's just shooting spitwads.

Anonymous said...

NePodism: It's a horrible thing.

Anonymous said...

The philosophy of JPod.

Maybe someone can tell me where I'm wrong. Isn't his "philosophy" (I am dignifying things to make a point) the following set of propositions?

1 - Israel is my god, I will have no other.
2 - The purpose of America is to fight for Israel, identical to fighting for Good.
3 - Anyone who opposes these priorities is Evil and must be severely repressed.
4 - The Evil Ones are known by this sign, that they think outside the party line on any subject. All such heretics must be crushed. On this principle, political totalitarianism is identical to Americanism, i.e. a police state is very like baseball and apple pie and the Andrews Sisters.

Knowing the Pod's philosophy enables one to predict with tolerable accuracy what he will say and do in his role as a public "intellectual."

Again, I challenge anyone to show me where I'm substantially wrong here. And if I'm right, then his philosophy is a much more dangerous feature of the Pod than his apparent idiocy, no?

Randall van der Sterren said...

Why is a magazine with a tepid circulation of 27,000 considered newsworthy?

Anonymous said...

According to Wikipedia Irving Kristol had a degree in history and taught social thought at a school of business. Was he really a number-cruncher?

Anonymous said...

Doesn't anyone think it odd for the NYT to complain about nepotism at the top of a publication?

27000 circulation? Wonder when Pinch (son of Punch, son of...)will lead the NYT to that level?

Couldn't Steve have found another publication to quote?