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Oh, David.
It is fitting that your farewell column ran 2,800 gloriously erudite words that obscured more than clarified. Your self-confessed heroes, Burke and Hamilton, could articulate what they were for in words the common man could understand. Unfortunately, you apparently cannot.
Milton Friedman famously said: The society that puts equality before freedom will end up with neither. The society that puts freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of both."
Yes or no, David, do you agree or disagree? Burke and Hamilton agreed. So did Jefferson and Madison. Trump agrees. So did Charlie Kirk.
In your 22 years at the Times, did you find many who agreed? You have chosen Yale as your next base of operations. Does the consensus at Yale agree?
Your farewell column elevates “humanism” as our highest ideal. Lovely word, humanism. I wonder what it means. Social and Justice are also lovely words. They are the central words of the past decade. They too elude clear definition. I have come to conclude that Social Justice means socialism. From your column, I suspect humanism might also include the warmth of collectivism, but I could be wrong.
I have another question about your quest for humanism. Is God invited to the seminar? Do you really think we can reason ourselves to our highest potential without the assistance of religion? Is Godless Humanism a thing?
David, you created a nice career pretending we are perpetually on the brink of something new and better. We are not. We are instead perpetually wrestling with the same issues our ancestors wrestled with for millennia. We are significantly better off materially than our ancestors. We are healthier, richer, and have much more free time with which to wrestle with ancient questions. But we are not smarter, nor better educated than our ancestors. The ancient questions confound us just the same.
I have a retirement suggestion, David. For every month you spend at Yale, spend a month at Hillsdale.
G-Pub
Discussion (15)
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Oh, he's not retiring from "journalism". The Atlantic just announced that ...
"... David Brooks, who for years has contributed memorable Atlantic cover stories and essays on political and societal issues, is joining the magazine as a staff writer beginning next month. The Atlantic will be the home for all of David’s writing, and he will also host a new weekly video podcast that will launch later this spring. ... The forthcoming podcast will explore the moral, social, and philosophical underpinnings of human decency—with a particular focus on the role that institutions play in shaping communities and ideologies. ...".
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GPentelie - It is comforting to realize we will have the benefit of David Brooks's drivel for years to come.
There is a saying that goes, "If you don't know who the mark at the table is, then you are the mark." If you ask Brooks who the mark at the table he is at is, he wouldn't know.
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Amusing yet useful suggestion at the end.
I do know Secular Humanism is certainly a thing. The concept got started in the mid 1800s. I've read a book on the subject promoting it as the ideal. Last years I decided to look up a local chapter of a secular humanist organization that had their versions of church. There was a Pride-Progress Flag and progressive jargon on its website. Go figure.
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Is the Atlantic considered an upgrade or downgrade from the NYT currently?
Or maybe a lateral move with better quality of living in Yale and outside of NYC.
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My suggestion is that Brooks should spend a month at a rehab clinic for people with extreme TDS. Actually, he has been broken since he acquired OIS (Obama Infatuation Syndrome).
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