Thomas Friedman explains:
Obama should aspire to make America the launching pad where everyone everywhere should want to come to launch their own moon shot, their own start-up, their own social movement.
Indeed.
I've got an even better idea, though. If America is to be the world's crash launching pad, then let's make Tom's estate in suburban D.C. into America's launching pad. I've got a few things I want to launch in the Washington area, so, Tom, here's a head's up: I'll be crashing in launching from your pool house indefinitely.
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100 comments:
Must be great to celebrate Diversity™ when you have the means to shield yourself from it's consequences.
Sorry Steve, this doesn't relate to the post: I was wondering how can I contact Mangan for requesting an invitation in order to read his blog?
their own social movement
Just what we all want - a new 'social movement' moving in next door.
Beyond parody.
I like his college valedictorian style.
Good illustration of flatness of the Earth: nowhere on the picture one can discreen the curvature of the said planet.
Hey, guys (and gals) !
Let us provide Mr. Sailer with enough support.
Your F.r.
Posting a picture and map to Friedman's home and then saying you plan to launch something there just doesn't right.
It's not fair to pick on journalists for wanting open borders; they truly believe that all people are equal. Why not write about IQ differences (interesting) instead of taking shots like this?
was Friedman ever good?
I don't see a tennis court or riding stable in that photo of his home. I guess if Mr. Friedman hadn't had to struggle every day against the anti-Semitism of America's WASP establishment he'd already have such things.
Friedman sits in airport lounge. He gets an idea. "Hey, wouldn't it be great if countries were like airports? And people from all over the world could just show up and hang around, and not worry about things like religions or wars? And all the services, like the food court and the janitors, were provided by private contractors? And it would all be run by some invisible and non-political authority that collected fees and issued bonds? And private enterprises could rent gates and set up shop, like the airlines? That would be so cool!"
From the air, it does look a bit like Hugo Drax's California chateau.
Perhaps he already has a multiethnic team of the world's best, crashing in the stables?
If Tom invites you to sample any simulators for 'g', decline.
since I can't get your email b/c I use a mac. here's an idea for you to blog about. Sorkin's "The Newsroom". it sounds like Sorkin used Frum alot as a model for McAvoy as reasonable northeastern Republican (which Frum has said he mourns the death of). I think Frum and Sorkin are friends from the West Wing days. fyi, i'm anti or pro either guy really.
"their own social movement. "
does that include the Taliban?
How can one guy be so clueless so wrong, so constantly wrong and still be wildly promoted by the media.
Hey, I'll bet that property has micro-scale low population density, strong border defense and jealously maintained green space.
So why all the bitching about immigration, proles?
Is there a man more loathsome than Tom Friedman? At one time, I thought he was just shockingly clueless, so wrapped up in his own bubble-world of progressive cliches that he couldn't see his and his class's hypocrisies and destructiveness, but I've grown convinced that there's nothing clueless or bumbling about him or his class. Their world view starts first from a shameless self-promotion to attain the absurd material comforts evidenced in that ghastly house. More, there's an active malevolence at work, an absolute disgust on his part with poor and working class whites. Not only are we dangerous and on the cusp of butchering and taking away all he holds dear, but we've also proven hopelessly incompetent in our inability to compete with the "exotics" he daily champions. Tom simply won't stand for it. We need to be replaced.
I always loved how the Union seized Robert E. Lee's mansion and turned it into a Union cemetery. Maybe the National Park Service could seize his mansion and turn it into the museum of bad leftist ideas. We can have exhibits on marxism, existentialism, post-modernism, post structuralism. Coming soon! Our exhibits on multiculturalism and race is not a biological phenomena.
That NYT article is, in a nutshell, exactly why I don't want to live in a country in which Friedman, Obama and their ilk have anything to do with governing the rest of us.
If our immigration policy only let in peole with a plausible shot at starting new high-tech companies, I would have no objection to it at all. The problem is importing a large number of people who can do little more than bottom-tier jobs in an economy where there is less demand for low-skill labor every year and an already-too-high supply of people suited to nothing else.
Libs like Freidman have no problem giving away America's CommonWealth. But they like living very well and Tom Friedman is not about to share his own wealth with illegal aliens. Only our CommonWealth. The more atheist inclined you are (like libs), the more you want hyped up creature comforts and more sensory stimulation. Gourmet foods and high end interior design. My theory is libs like to live high off the hog more than conservatives. Libs have smaller families so more disposable income. Gays are the ultimate liberal-libertine comfort and sensory stimulation seekers because they have gobs of child-free money to spend on themselves.
Living here illegally has a very high value otherwise the 3rd world poor would not be flocking here, even Muslims who by and large hate the infidel. Africans can't wait to get here despite our alleged racism and Eric Holder claiming we need an honest dialog about race. BTW Holders grandparents came from Barbados and dittos for his wife.
Libs act as though legal/illegal residency here is common and means nothing. That American citizenship means nothing. They dilute American citizenship by their open borders policies. By now cheap labor Republicans should stop their activities. We have more than enough illegal aliens and poor legal aliens to do their labor for the next 20 years. Who is that idiot professor in DC who likes mass immigration because it means more ethic restaurants for him? He even publishes a guide. Tyler Cowan, an economics prof
Good point. Instead of these 15 y.o. head shots, opinion journo's should have to have thumbnails of their residences next to their columns. Their speaking fee printed along with their byline would be helpful too.
"I'll be moving into your pool house indefinitely"
Not indefinitely. Just until your blog syndication plan launches.
Why would he get to live in the big house with a master bathroom while you'd live in the pool house? Don't you have the same human rights as he?
Steve, I can't take you right now, but my friend David Siegel got some room for you.
You'll be a net jobs creator from all the broken windows and such.
Is that Thomas Friedman's "house"?
So, "Liberals" are the protectors of the "oppressed", right?
I did 32 years in the Marines...then 14 more as a college instructor. No Liberal, I.
My house, is nice and more than adequate, however, Friedman's looks much like former Sen. and presidential aspirant whom, it turns out was cheating on his wife and garnered millions in bogus law suits. I could rant more, but I know you "get it". Cheers
Steve, for shame. Don't you feel a bit guilty when you see how this man who is so demonstrably inferior to you as an analyst has prospered?
I read a book or two by Friedman and discovered that he is not a particularly talented commentator on our current situation. Why should he become rich? He's not the worst example of undeserved fame and fortune - that would be Malcolm Gladwell - but he's bad enough.
You should somehow conspire with some publisher to get a book out. That's where the money and influence are. It wouldn't even have to be original. You could publish a collection of blogs and comments. For example, your column on PISA and the effectiveness of US education is an observation that needs to be told and needs to be heard.
Your only problem so far as I can tell is that you are too glum speaking live. Ann Coulter is almost as controversial as you are and much less circumspect in her language, but she gets air time whenever she wants to hawk her books because she smiles (like a lunatic) ceaselessly. Find a media coach who will teach you how to make cheap jokes and grin like an idiot. Then you will be ready for the book tour. You've already got the books.
Albertosaurus
it has gotten to the point where 100% of everything written by these people is to be completely ignored. in fact, in finance, you would use them as a contrarian indicator. take whatever they say, and do 180 degrees the opposite.
they could not possibly be more wrong about every single topic.
Presumably, Friedman would frown on racially profiling to separate those who will launch "their own start-up, their own social movement" from those "pass(ing) their days in the perfect leisure which those peoples alone enjoy who are untroubled by the speculative or artistic itch" of the previous post.
So you would rather that the next Google, Yahoo, etc. be started elsewhere? I don't see anything wrong with having a "smart" immigration policy where the US tries to attract wealthy entrepreneurs who will hire a lot of people. Of course this is not the actual immigration policy that we have.
OT
Workers on Disability Set Another Record in July; Exceed Population of 39 States
Things like this make me really wish there were some kind of active right-wing youth movement, akin to OWS. How hilarious would it be for a few hundred trust-funded right-wing youths to converge on Friedman's house, hand him a copy of his own words, and say "thanks we'll be staying permanently." Then go take up residence, demand food, stink up his bathrooms (however many there may be in that palace).
But sadly, there is no right-wing youth movement, and the dopes in OWS are too stupid to know they are doing the One Percent's bidding, rather than doing them harm.
To be fair Steve, he did say “launching pad”, not “crash pad”. Not that it wouldn’t be poetic justice if Tom (“your world is flat, my world is fat”) Friedman found his palatial digs occupied by illegal squatters. I really don’t see his piece as yet another push for more immigration, swathed in feel good baloney. I suppose it could be seen as an argument for a smorgasbord of SWPL policies, in education, environment, and health care, swathed in feel good baloney. Given his emphasis on sustainability, one can only ask if our current trajectory in health care costs, college education for all, monetary supply, war on Israel’s enemies (oops, I mean war on terror), are sustainable.
One could ask, but one shouldn’t. I don’t think this is a policy piece. Rather, it is purely about a political strategy to get Obama re-elected this fall. Seen in those terms, it’s not too bad. The grand narrative of “sustainability”, a suitably vague one-word slogan, hints at actions in the areas of the environment, banking, etc. towards an uplifting goal, without any policy specifics. None of those annoying trade-offs and “ who, whom” issues have to come up. Each segment of the electorate is free to fill in the blanks as they wish. As a specifics-free approach, maybe they could call it “Morning in America II”?
What is striking about the upcoming election to me is that, with the economy in the toilet, the electoral debate, if you can characterize it as such, is seemingly unfocused on what is normally everyone's first concern. Exactly the opposite of the laser-like focus in Clinton’s first presidential run. I guess the message this time is: “It’s NOT the economy, stupid.”
Boy, it sure does help if the media megaphone holds itself to your lips.
Tom Friedman would have us become what Teddy Roosevelt feared: a polyglot boarding house.
Thomas Friedman married into money. That house didn't come from from book sales or speaking fees. Unfortunately, his wife's family fortune hasn't fared too well in the real estate bust.
Per wiki:
Friedman's wife, Ann, is a graduate of Stanford University and the London School of Economics...Her father, Matthew Bucksbaum, was the chairman of the board of General Growth Properties, a real estate development group.[8] As of 2007, Forbes estimated the Bucksbaum family's assets at $4.1 billion, ... but the firm's value later plummeted.[9][10] The family's trust declined in value from $3.6 billion to $25 million.[11][dead link] On April 16, 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after failing to reach a deal with its creditors.[12] The GGP collapse marked the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.[13]
Friedman is Exhibit A on the clueless nature and absolute stupidity of the ruling class.
His nice mansion is toast if enough Third World people come here. Does he think he can escape the general confiscation of property to pay for a First Wold life for the Third World here?
He's INVESTED in property that cannot be moved, easily, and shoved around the world. The FT had a column on the global rich, there's about 30,000 of them, who have multiple houses in the $10-15 million dollar range around the globe, hedging their bets and avoiding say London winters Caribbean summers (and hurricanes).
Friedman is not even THAT smart, not as canny as your typical Russian thug-oligarch out of a Bond movie villain.
Such stupidity is only explained by hereditary positions. It seems Austo-Hungarian. Or Wilhemine. [And Thomas Friedman is Exhibit B on how "not all Jews are even borderline smart" ... he and his wife has seen their wealth erode and are stuck in place.]
That his home? How come he can buy such working as a reporter? I needs to go into journalism.
Friedman has also written about how we need to reduce our carbon footprint.. that's probably why he doesn't have tennis courts.
It's not fair to pick on journalists for wanting open borders; they truly believe that all people are equal.
What a maroon!
Or was that an attempt at sarcasm?
Friedman.
I've got the urge to write haiku about him.
Moustache Writes Nothing
Always Takes About Six Months Time
Forever Failing Up
Cabbie Said: World Is Flat
Wife's Family Had Big Money
Drove Lexus Through Olive Grove
Spent Three Summers Kibbutzing
Should Have Made It To Woodstock
No Balls. What to Do?
http://takimag.com/article/things_fall_apart_john_derbyshire/print#axzz21TlCFZxu
WTF? Derb considering suicide over illness? Why an article about guns?
I think the first thing you have to do is find some rich goy or Jewish father-in-law who is willing to support a leech who lives off his daughter.
That's what Martin Peretz and Tom Friedman did.
Alternatively, you can live off your wife's death benefits they from their dead husbands' estates like Kerry and McClain.
It is easy to imagine a New America when you are so remote from the little people.
The last time Friedman got his hands dirty was when he spent three summers in Israel on a kibbutz in his eternal homeland.
Friedman is Exhibit A on the clueless nature and absolute stupidity of the ruling class.
no he's not stupid. I doubt he or Gore believe thier carbon footprint diverisity is great song and dance, but they become very wealthy and powerful if YOU and middle classes believe it.
Ugh, America as a proposition nation is becoming so old. Life in New Zealand seems pretty nice without all the tech start-ups. The public realization about HBD won't happen until people stop worshiping free markets and businesses. Both ideologies are intrinsically rooted in radical egalitarianism.
I see evangelizing the religion of globalization has been very, very good for Thomas Friedman. I do wonder if he has earned the money to purchase that mansion exclusively from book sales and speeches, or if he also receives kickbacks from the corporations benefiting from the out-sourcing, in-sourcing (H1-B Visas), and illegal worker invasion he's been advocating for the last couple of decades.
"It's not fair to pick on journalists for wanting open borders; they truly believe that all people are equal."
But as the picture makes clear they're not all equally sheltered from the consequences of open borders.
nb Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, India, Taiwan etc, watch, learn and understand - you'll be next.
"How can one guy be so clueless so wrong, so constantly wrong and still be wildly promoted by the media."
Because what he promotes is consistently harmful to the interests of white Americans.
"their own social movement"?
He has offically lapsed into senescence. You probably could move into his pool house. Tom's just months away from no longer being able to find it.
Oof, at least drug lords earned their vast estates by providing a product the market demands and not by some form of pandering, intellectual debauchery.
"How can one guy be so clueless so wrong, so constantly wrong and still be wildly promoted by the media."
That's not a bug, that's a feature (from the media's perspective).
Friedman sits in airport lounge. He gets an idea. "Hey, wouldn't it be great if countries were like airports? .... And private enterprises could rent gates and set up shop, like the airlines? That would be so cool!"
Silicon Valley napkins. Jefferson at his dinner table. Manifest Destiny. Bush II and Iraq War. Oh, where oh where do ANY of America's great ideas start?
It's only fair to all fair minded people all over the world that America gets as good as it gives. Otherwise, what good IS America?Friedman- The Good Jew.
I do wonder if he has earned the money to purchase that mansion exclusively from book sales and speeches, or if he also receives kickbacks from the corporations benefiting from the out-sourcing, in-sourcing (H1-B Visas), and illegal worker invasion he's been advocating for the last couple of decades.
7/23/12 2:01 PM
he married into money - Kevin M. uses it as an example of the old jewish practice of paring wealthy daughters with scholarly rabbis, though 'scholarly' is stretching it in this case.
"smart" immigration policy where the US tries to attract wealthy entrepreneurs who will hire a lot of people.
would not be smart because those people will hire their own kind, and likely have loyalty to their own kind The smart policy would be to encourage internal development.
To commenter "Der Frost":
You have to keep up. This was dealt with days ago:
"Is it simply Goog doing more evil?" and kudzu bob said:
I asked pretty much that same question in the comments section of a non-political, non-HBD blog of Mangan's, to which he answered that he wasn't having any problem with blogspot, and that he wouldn't be blogging there any longer. He gave no reasons for the demise of his outstanding blog, not that any were due.
And that, as they say, is that. Mangan will be sorely missed.@7/17/12 6:44PM
OT but Peter Hitchens is the only reporter i know who makes the connection between violent shooters and meds and illegal drugs like cannibis
http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2012/07/theorising-without-data.html
Above, one of hoi anonymoi asks if Friedman was ever good. I was out of the country for his ascent and have never understood how it could have happened. If anyone can clue me in, I'd appreciate it.
My (aged, lovely) father is forever forwarding Friedman's columns to me, and I find myself falsely telling him all the time that I plan to read them soon. I don't like lying.
It's not fair to pick on journalists for wanting open borders; they truly believe that all people are equal.
Equal in what way? If equal means identical, i.e., interchangeable, they don't believe that. (Otherwise they would reject the idea of private property, which Friedman obviously doesn't.) And if equal doesn't mean identical, the belief in equality is irrelevant to immigration policy.
the old jewish practice of paring wealthy daughters with scholarly rabbis, though 'scholarly' is stretching it in this case
That practice only exists among the ultra-Orthodox currently, not secular Jews like Friedman and Bucksbaum. They both have elite academic credentials, but his aren't really superior to hers: an M. Phil from St. Antony's College Oxford earned on a Marshall scholarship (him) and degrees from Stanford and LSE (her). Given that they were married in London, I suspect they may have met there while in school.
Steve, may you forever be consigned to penury in Van Nuys and an intellectually stimulating blogspot site, and never find a Friedmanesque mansion on the east coast from which to churn out propaganda for the corrupt elite.
Damn, no Home Depot near Friedman's house, eh, Steve?
Guess he doesn't have to worry about the leering men on the corner, waiting for trucks to pick them up. You know, worry about any daughters he might have who have to walk past that bunch on the way to school.
He does give a damn about Lebanese, Palestinian, Israeli, Syrian children and families, though.
I believe Thomas Friedman should be taxed at the 75% level so as to redistribute his wealth to public employees such as cops, firemen, and teachers. After all, they didn't get the breaks in life he did.
If our immigration policy only let in peole with a plausible shot at starting new high-tech companies, I would have no objection to it at all.
We already have enough talent in our present population "with a plausible shot at starting new high-tech companies." Bringing in more just makes life more difficult for existing Americans and threatens to create or augment a hostile ruling elite.
So you would rather that the next Google, Yahoo, etc. be started elsewhere?
Yes, I'll take my chances with my own people.
I guess the message this time is: “It’s NOT the economy, stupid.”
Any candidate who made priority #1 the ending the foreign infiltration of our nation would sweep to the presidency.
even Muslims who by and large hate the infidel.
Muslims don't by and large hate Americans or other infidels.
His nice mansion is toast if enough Third World people come here. Does he think he can escape the general confiscation of property to pay for a First Wold life for the Third World here?
You obviously haven't lived or traveled extensively in the Third World. Plenty of mansions and nice gated communities. And less competition for the elites from the general population.
And Thomas Friedman is Exhibit B on how "not all Jews are even borderline smart"
Friedman's done a nice job running interference for two decades while his brethren expropriated a valuable piece of property on the Eastern Mediterranean.
... he and his wife has seen their wealth erode and are stuck in place.
And that is related to Friedman's anti-European, pro-Israel punditry how? Besides, more immigration generally means higher real estate prices. Is the wealth of Friedman and his wife related to real estate?
>>"smart" immigration policy where the US tries to attract wealthy entrepreneurs who will hire a lot of people.<<
would not be smart because those people will hire their own kind, and likely have loyalty to their own kind The smart policy would be to encourage internal development.
Exactly.
But as the picture makes clear they're not all equally sheltered from the consequences of open borders.
nb Japan, China, Korea, Singapore, India, Taiwan etc, watch, learn and understand - you'll be next.
I don't understand this comment. Please explain.
He does give a damn about Lebanese, Palestinian, ... Syrian children and families, though.
He does?
"So you would rather that the next Google, Yahoo, etc. be started elsewhere?"
Is there any evidence that this would have, in fact, happened? Perhaps it really is just California's Gold Rush legal system and history of vulture capitalism. ("I've got your gold mine stocks right here, buddy!")
Also, does it really matter, given how our brave new multi-nationals manage to keep their profits/money out of the US? (I'm looking at you, Apple, but I notice there's a lot more...)
Also, does it really matter, given how our brave new multi-nationals manage to keep their profits/money out of the US? (I'm looking at you, Apple, but I notice there's a lot more...)
And, more importantly, their employees and contractors.
So you would rather that the next Google, Yahoo, etc. be started elsewhere?
We must not allow ourselves to be blackmailed.
So you would rather that the next Google, Yahoo, etc. be started elsewhere?
I really don't give a damn where they start. I don't know what country Google is located in, and I don't care.
I don't see anything wrong with having a "smart" immigration policy where the US tries to attract wealthy entrepreneurs who will hire a lot of people. Of course this is not the actual immigration policy that we have.
It sure isn't. Leaving aside the mass immigration of poor dumb people, the wealthy entrepreneurs prefer to NOT hire American workers.
"Obama should aspire to make America the launching pad where everyone everywhere should want to come to launch their own moon shot, their own start-up, their own social movement."
Thomas, I wish that everyone with, as you call it, a "social movement" might launch it in your state, in your district, in your neighborhood, in your grandchildren's schools, in your profession. May it happen to you, sir.
"He does give a damn about Lebanese, Palestinian, ... Syrian children and families, though."
"He does?"
He sure says he does.
Steve, you seem to have cropped the immaculately landscaped five-acre front yard containing the 200-yard private drive. Seems it would make a great tent city.
"Marc B said...
I see evangelizing the religion of globalization has been very, very good for Thomas Friedman."
Although he undoubtedly has made a lot of dough from book sales and speaking fees, he made most of his money the old fashioned way. He married it.
Wow. He's got quite a bit of lebensraum there.
I always loved how the Union seized Robert E. Lee's mansion and turned it into a Union cemetery.
That is pretty cool. I can't think of anything I'd rather do with my land than fill it with the corpses of invading enemies.
Libs act as though legal/illegal residency here is common and means nothing. That American citizenship means nothing.
This is the sort of thing to catch them on. If they value American citizenship, they shouldn't be giving it away for nothing; if they don't, then they can't whine when we deny it to the hordes, because we aren't denying them anything of value.
Presumably, Friedman would frown on racially profiling to separate those who will launch "their own start-up, their own social movement" from those "pass(ing) their days in the perfect leisure which those peoples alone enjoy who are untroubled by the speculative or artistic itch" of the previous post.
Nonsense. If racial profiling bothered him he'd be too busy writing anti-Israel screeds to get anything else done.
Friedman's wife, Ann, is a graduate of Stanford University and the London School of Economics...Her father, Matthew Bucksbaum, was the chairman of the board of General Growth Properties, a real estate development group.[8] As of 2007, Forbes estimated the Bucksbaum family's assets at $4.1 billion, ... but the firm's value later plummeted.[9][10] The family's trust declined in value from $3.6 billion to $25 million.[11][dead link] On April 16, 2009, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, after failing to reach a deal with its creditors.[12] The GGP collapse marked the largest real estate bankruptcy in U.S. history.[13]
Hahahahahaha!
The last time Friedman got his hands dirty was when he spent three summers in Israel on a kibbutz in his eternal homeland.
That's your typical "anti-racist" "progressive" "American" Jew for you, going on an extended field trip in der Fatherland.
Jody said:
it has gotten to the point where 100% of everything written by these people is to be completely ignored. in fact, in finance, you would use them as a contrarian indicator. take whatever they say, and do 180 degrees the opposite.
they could not possibly be more wrong about every single topic.
I pretty much feel that way about Matt Yglesias too.
This is the sort of thing to catch them on. If they value American citizenship, they shouldn't be giving it away for nothing; if they don't, then they can't whine when we deny it to the hordes, because we aren't denying them anything of value.
Svigor - I don't know whether you posted that in jest - but you know darned well that abstractions like Reason and Truth mean nothing to the Frankfurt School.
They're in the business of throwing mud on the wall and seeing what sticks - if a line of attack suddenly fails to make headway in the propaganda wars, then [if necessary] they'll instantly turn on a dime and argue exactly the opposite point of view.
All they care about is expediency - if they cared at all about Reason or Truth, then they wouldn't be in the Frankfurt School to begin with.
And if you attempt to engage them otherwise [as though they did care about Reason or Truth], then you're tying both hands behind your back, and you've already lost the war before the first shot is even fired.
Friedman "we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less. ":
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08friedman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22the+earth+is+full%22&st=cse
kinda puts that home in perspective, no?
Thomas Friedman "we have to move to a more happiness-driven growth model, based on people working less and owning less. ":
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/opinion/08friedman.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=%22the+earth+is+full%22&st=cse
but my favorite hypocrite is Gun control nut mike bloomberg:
"The mayor also takes along a police detail when he travels, flying two officers on his private plane and paying as much as $400 a night to put them up at a hotel near his house; the city pays their wages while they are there, as it does whether Mr. Bloomberg is New York or not. (sic) Guns are largely forbidden in Bermuda — even most police officers do not use them — but the mayor’s guards have special permission to carry weapons."
i do wonder if such hypocrisy is a symptom of scots irish culture.- lingering secularized version of superiority?.
"That's your typical "anti-racist" "progressive" "American" Jew for you, going on an extended field trip in der Fatherland."
It's actually not very common for non-Orthodox Jews to spend anywhere close to as much time in Israel as did Friedman. Only a minority even take the short "Birthright Israel" trips. Of Reform congregants my age with whom I grew up, none of us did either.
"Wow. He's got quite a bit of lebensraum there."
Love it.
This is the sort of thing to catch them on. If they value American citizenship, they shouldn't be giving it away for nothing; if they don't, then they can't whine when we deny it to the hordes, because we aren't denying them anything of value.
Excellent.
Svigor - I don't know whether you posted that in jest - but you know darned well that abstractions like Reason and Truth mean nothing to the Frankfurt School.
True, but it's a good argument for use with others.
Tom Friedman's in-laws have come back somewhat.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2011/03/11/biggest-billionaire-comebacks-2011/
(One of the Rank 993)
That's why he got bold again.
Why would anyone pay any attention to a blowhard like Friedman at this point? His whole position in life is based on an obsolete model of information flow, where a small number of people get to the top of the pyramid, are awarded megaphones, and then preach idiocy.
The megaphone monopoly is long past. There must be a thousand bloggers who consistently offer more real insights than Friedman does. In general, the only reason to expect more insight from journalists than from plumbers or dentists is that journalists have access to meetings and sources and such that you don't. But for pontificating about What It All Means, that is not too useful.
As a bonus, while most bloggers have some external constraints (some stuff they could write would get them fired or not invited to cocktail parties or something), those constraints tend to be much more diffuse and come from different directions. Which means that the ideological blinders required to keep Tom Friedman's job are not necessary for the Balkos and Sailers and Greenwalds of the world. Even better, since blog access doesn't cost anything, there's no bundling cost. I can read news from the New York Times and NPR and BBC and El Pais and Reuters, without giving any of their pundits the smallest bit of attention--after all, I can get better commentary for free by clicking on a couple bookmarks. Successful bloggers seem pretty good keeping an audience that is linked as much to them as to their brand--Andrew Sullivan or Tyler Cowan will keep their blog audiences even if they move to a new publication/university, so attempts to silence them can only work so well.
Friedman is a dinosaur. The world that made him important will soon be as gone as the world that made hereditary nobility in Europe important. Good riddance.
Why would anyone pay any attention to a blowhard like Friedman at this point?
if you want to know what rich New York Jews are thinking (and what they think matters a lot) then Friedman offers a useful insight into them.
It's actually not very common for non-Orthodox Jews to spend anywhere close to as much time in Israel as did Friedman. Only a minority even take the short "Birthright Israel" trips. Of Reform congregants my age with whom I grew up, none of us did either.
Right, but you guys don't think there's anything wrong with extended field trips to der Fatherland either, right?
I didn't mean he was typical in the sense of actually taking the trips. I meant he was typical in the sense of living in the cocoon Jewish supremacy provides, and never having to confront his own hypocrisy.
They're in the business of throwing mud on the wall and seeing what sticks - if a line of attack suddenly fails to make headway in the propaganda wars, then [if necessary] they'll instantly turn on a dime and argue exactly the opposite point of view.
All they care about is expediency
You're overstating the point a tad, but yes, we're on the same page.
Right, but you guys don't think there's anything wrong with extended field trips to der Fatherland either, right?
No, I/we would think it's odd for someone who didn't have an Israeli parent or other close family there. The boomers and their elderly parents feel a lot more strongly about Israel than most of us one generation further removed. Spending years there on a kibbutz or going to serve a stint in the Israeli army would be quite unusual. Not really something I'd understand or sympathize with unless the individual had close relatives there or planned to emigrate.
Friedman is a hypocrite in his views about immigration, sure. But virtually all of the super-wealthy elite share those views whether they are Jewish or not. They are all addicted to cheap labor and moral posturing about suffering in undeveloped countries. They're pretty much all blank-slatists, at least publically. And why not, since if humans are fungible, they have access to a larger pool of cheap labor.
@anon
"Svigor - I don't know whether you posted that in jest - but you know darned well that abstractions like Reason and Truth mean nothing to the Frankfurt School."
Reasoning with them on any basis other than their self-interest is entirely pointless but not if the real target for pointing out their hypocrisy and double standards is the audience.
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"But virtually all of the super-wealthy elite share those views whether they are Jewish or not."
Wealthy Jews in the US believe Israel should have the same immigration and diversity policies they prescribe for the US?
The exact opposite is true - and not even just Israel as shown by the ethnic cleansing of black people from Manhattan.
Wealthy elite Jews in the U.S. favor the same immigration policies for the U.S. that wealthy elite non-Jews favor for the U.S. Their fortunes are centered in the U.S. or other manufacturing centers and financial hideouts around the world. For all but a few of them, Israel is not relevant to their wealth at all.
In my darker moments, I reflect on the apparent fact that the great and powerful of our society seem to be honestly impressed by the deep thinking of the Friedmans and Gladwells of the world.
Friedman is a hypocrite in his views about immigration, sure. But virtually all of the super-wealthy elite share those views whether they are Jewish or not. They are all addicted to cheap labor and moral posturing about suffering in undeveloped countries. They're pretty much all blank-slatists, at least publically. And why not, since if humans are fungible, they have access to a larger pool of cheap labor.
My point is basically that Jews aren't liberals. They can raise millions a year for the benefit of der Fatherland and experience no cognitive dissonance because they aren't liberals. White liberals would find it more than "odd" that one of their own had attended summer camp three times in Apartheid South Africa. Generally speaking, they'd find it odd that one of their own was something other than violently opposed to der Fatherland (for themselves - Jews have managed to sell White libs on a pass for Jews).
As for the younger generations, it's been discussed here many times how much warmer Jews become as they age.
Old rich Jews do all the heavy lifting for Israel, nothing surprising there. I doubt the current crop of youngsters will be any exception.
Wealthy elite Jews in the U.S. favor the same immigration policies for the U.S. that wealthy elite non-Jews favor for the U.S. Their fortunes are centered in the U.S. or other manufacturing centers and financial hideouts around the world. For all but a few of them, Israel is not relevant to their wealth at all.
Semantics. This is like your brother who committed suicide and the guy who wanted him dead had the same goals. The positions are quite distinct, bordering on opposite. Real libs (Whites) want open borders and are opposed to the idea of ethno-states for themselves; faux libs (coalition members like Jews and blacks) want open borders and both have and support ethno-states for themselves, while vigorously opposing ethno-states for Whites.
Saying you should have your cake and eat it too, but nobody else should, and some other schmuck saying yes, you should have your cake and eat it too, but nobody else should, are not the same position. They're two very different positions.
Israel has only been around since 1948. The current crop of older Jews were alive during or just after the Holocaust and, being older than Israel, remember a world before it existed. Neither of those condition will apply to younger Jews, so even when they are older, they may not demonstrate as much "warmth" towards Israel.
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