Brilliant 20 years ago and brilliant today! This is why I subscribe, to get your simple genius.
Thomas L. lives in his own glass house (I'm sure he has a magnificent views).
It's baffling to me to watch leftists who so fervently championed Peace at one time, now turn into pro-war hell or high water... It's very sad. There's this scene in The Guns of Navarone, with Gregory Peck and Anthony Quayle where he talks about "being just as nasty" as the Nazis, and Peck replies something like, "I just hope we don't turn into them someday." Thanks, Bill!
"They were all determined to counter the ‘corrosive cynicism about public action” (the sort of thing you are reading now)." Thank you for the belly laugh!
Why so many liberals/progressives/neocons supported the Iraq war? Saddam was paying $25,000 per suiside bomber to attack Israeli cities on a weekly basis, with thousands murdered. It came almost to an end after the invasion.
Very much like Ukraine, nothing is as it seems, nor as we are told...
Do you recall the story of the two Muslim mothers comparing pictures of their children?
"They blow up so fast!"
I hadn't noticed the reduction in suicide bombings over the past twenty years, it seemed that vehicular attacks became more fashionable. Is there a database somewhere to help understand this ?
Novelists like Friedman don’t have to worry about being esteemed. Their bank accounts confirm, they resile in the world of truth sayers to the stumble bum society of the elite idiocy, of those who believe, 1 plus 1 makes 3 US$’s so it’s OK to go out and plunder.
Considering the basic definition of “conserving,” how long will it be before the Marxist-fascist-elitist authoritarians in power around the world and among US declare themselves “conservatives” in trying to maintain their destructive control . . . or even “traditionalists” trying to maintain their fantasy (ie, insane) traditions? Relativism at its worst.
In a way, conservatism is a mirage, chimera, because, other than basic matter, nothing stays the same, and no construct is permanent. The joker in the deck is human nature, which, sadly in many cases, is a constant. Best always. PM
I could have done without this essay of yours, as it reminded me of a most deflating experience I suffered some years ago.
In his senior year of college my son won a Marshall Scholarship—one of the forty-four awarded that year to students across the fruited plain. My wife and I immediately swelled up to dirigible dimensions. That scholarship took him to England, where it enabled him to earn his doctorate in computer vision at the University of Cambridge. One day while enjoying lunch with a longstanding friend and deriding yet another absurd column by Thomas Friedman, I was stopped short when my pal noted (sheepishly, I confess) that Friedman, too, had once gone to England as a Marshall Scholar.
Friedman, like many fashionable pundits and officials who have gone on to fame and fortune, may be a male example of the category “head girl” coined by the excellent Germany-based journalist Eugyppius. A “head girl” surely impressed her mentors when she first showed signs of intellectual ability. But that ability was typically not much more than a knack for knowing what would impress them and how to deliver the goods. In later life a head girl could be counted on to take herself far too seriously, to condescend to less “bright” folks, and to become a paragon of the bien-pensant worldview—in short, to cement her reputation as a “midwit.”
You are hardly alone in using a blunderbuss on Friedman. Here are two of the better quotes about him that appear in Wikipedia:
Matt Taibbi, from 2009: "Friedman came up with lines so hilarious you couldn't make them up even if you were trying – and when you tried to actually picture the 'illustrative' figures of speech he offered to explain himself, what you often ended up with was pure physical comedy of the Buster Keaton/Three Stooges school, with whole nations and peoples slipping and falling on the misplaced banana peels of his literary endeavors.”
Glenn Greenwald, from 2012: "His status among American elites is the single most potent fact for understanding the nation's imperial decline."
Jbakst, like Mary, remembering the cat, Bill has chosen the best parts. What good storing up riches when the day comes, “When the bell tolls for thee.”
Hey, everybody, Bill Bonner STEPS OUT at 75! In your face, Friedman! Yeah, what HE said! Any of you non-subscribing laggards out there, you had better get on board or let the wheels roll over you, YEAH! You go, Bill! Best always. PM
As a non-US citizen I had always seen the IHT as a bit of lightweight fluff to keep US tourists and expats a bit connected. It is interesting to see a point of view where it might have been influential.
I appreciate the reminder of Victoria Nuland et al. Before the Ukraine war of 2022 I had never heard of her, and was properly dismayed at the Russian invasion of Ukraine after the 2010 Olympics.
It is always appreciated when a veteran student of the empire connects dots and names players.
Just wondering what your ideal ratio of financial world information to real world information is. If you followed Friedman's logic financially, you would be hurting. Perhaps your request will be granted by BPR anyway.
Actionable financial world information is what we get from Tom and Dan every Wednesday and Friday. Bill is pure wisdom and entertainment.
If you didn't get at least five laughs out of Bill's missive today (i.e. "It must be unfathomable to such a man that the world could work in ways that surpass his understanding") then I suggest you stick with Tom and Dan and save yourself some aggravation.
Nah. He prefers to complain because apparently someone, somewhere puts a gun to his head and makes him read Bill's stuff. I'd say Jbaskt is just a grouchy old bastard, but I'm not familiar with his parentage...
I love the part about going back in time with commentary on Friedman.
It’s just like the climate extremists. They’ve always been wrong. They have never been right about anything at all. Ever.
And like all empires, perhaps someday soon, this empire will also be relegated to the dustbin of history.
Dear Bill,
Brilliant 20 years ago and brilliant today! This is why I subscribe, to get your simple genius.
Thomas L. lives in his own glass house (I'm sure he has a magnificent views).
It's baffling to me to watch leftists who so fervently championed Peace at one time, now turn into pro-war hell or high water... It's very sad. There's this scene in The Guns of Navarone, with Gregory Peck and Anthony Quayle where he talks about "being just as nasty" as the Nazis, and Peck replies something like, "I just hope we don't turn into them someday." Thanks, Bill!
Well said Mark, and, yes, Bill's "simple genius" has helped shape my thinking for the last couple of decades too.
Relativism. Whatever it takes to stay on top. Best always. PM
"They were all determined to counter the ‘corrosive cynicism about public action” (the sort of thing you are reading now)." Thank you for the belly laugh!
Why so many liberals/progressives/neocons supported the Iraq war? Saddam was paying $25,000 per suiside bomber to attack Israeli cities on a weekly basis, with thousands murdered. It came almost to an end after the invasion.
Very much like Ukraine, nothing is as it seems, nor as we are told...
TRUE. Kill yourself or we'll kill your family. The original brand of drones is much cheaper than the new brand.
Do you recall the story of the two Muslim mothers comparing pictures of their children?
"They blow up so fast!"
I hadn't noticed the reduction in suicide bombings over the past twenty years, it seemed that vehicular attacks became more fashionable. Is there a database somewhere to help understand this ?
Don't pull your punches so, Bill -- tell us what you really think about Friedman. He richly deserves your contempt.
Oh, and congratulations (of a sort) on writing an entire column about Friedman without once using the word "smug".
Novelists like Friedman don’t have to worry about being esteemed. Their bank accounts confirm, they resile in the world of truth sayers to the stumble bum society of the elite idiocy, of those who believe, 1 plus 1 makes 3 US$’s so it’s OK to go out and plunder.
Considering the basic definition of “conserving,” how long will it be before the Marxist-fascist-elitist authoritarians in power around the world and among US declare themselves “conservatives” in trying to maintain their destructive control . . . or even “traditionalists” trying to maintain their fantasy (ie, insane) traditions? Relativism at its worst.
In a way, conservatism is a mirage, chimera, because, other than basic matter, nothing stays the same, and no construct is permanent. The joker in the deck is human nature, which, sadly in many cases, is a constant. Best always. PM
How slanderous Bill!!
Friedman won the Nobel prize for hubris. or was it stupidity? Maybe it was Publishers clearinghouse prize for economics?
Bill,
I could have done without this essay of yours, as it reminded me of a most deflating experience I suffered some years ago.
In his senior year of college my son won a Marshall Scholarship—one of the forty-four awarded that year to students across the fruited plain. My wife and I immediately swelled up to dirigible dimensions. That scholarship took him to England, where it enabled him to earn his doctorate in computer vision at the University of Cambridge. One day while enjoying lunch with a longstanding friend and deriding yet another absurd column by Thomas Friedman, I was stopped short when my pal noted (sheepishly, I confess) that Friedman, too, had once gone to England as a Marshall Scholar.
Friedman, like many fashionable pundits and officials who have gone on to fame and fortune, may be a male example of the category “head girl” coined by the excellent Germany-based journalist Eugyppius. A “head girl” surely impressed her mentors when she first showed signs of intellectual ability. But that ability was typically not much more than a knack for knowing what would impress them and how to deliver the goods. In later life a head girl could be counted on to take herself far too seriously, to condescend to less “bright” folks, and to become a paragon of the bien-pensant worldview—in short, to cement her reputation as a “midwit.”
You are hardly alone in using a blunderbuss on Friedman. Here are two of the better quotes about him that appear in Wikipedia:
Matt Taibbi, from 2009: "Friedman came up with lines so hilarious you couldn't make them up even if you were trying – and when you tried to actually picture the 'illustrative' figures of speech he offered to explain himself, what you often ended up with was pure physical comedy of the Buster Keaton/Three Stooges school, with whole nations and peoples slipping and falling on the misplaced banana peels of his literary endeavors.”
Glenn Greenwald, from 2012: "His status among American elites is the single most potent fact for understanding the nation's imperial decline."
I'm kind of in shock Mr. Friedman was overlooked by the Biden Administration. He'd have made a great Secretary of something or other.
Jbakst, like Mary, remembering the cat, Bill has chosen the best parts. What good storing up riches when the day comes, “When the bell tolls for thee.”
Hey, everybody, Bill Bonner STEPS OUT at 75! In your face, Friedman! Yeah, what HE said! Any of you non-subscribing laggards out there, you had better get on board or let the wheels roll over you, YEAH! You go, Bill! Best always. PM
Wonderful biting sarcasm! For some reason, I was reminded of 1Kings 22. For those interested, there are more here: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/6149/are-there-any-examples-of-sarcasm-in-the-bible
Thank you ,Mr. Bonner, for this review.
As a non-US citizen I had always seen the IHT as a bit of lightweight fluff to keep US tourists and expats a bit connected. It is interesting to see a point of view where it might have been influential.
I appreciate the reminder of Victoria Nuland et al. Before the Ukraine war of 2022 I had never heard of her, and was properly dismayed at the Russian invasion of Ukraine after the 2010 Olympics.
It is always appreciated when a veteran student of the empire connects dots and names players.
It would be great if you addressed the financial world with your stories. Thanks
Just wondering what your ideal ratio of financial world information to real world information is. If you followed Friedman's logic financially, you would be hurting. Perhaps your request will be granted by BPR anyway.
If you don’t know I doubt you ever will.
Actionable financial world information is what we get from Tom and Dan every Wednesday and Friday. Bill is pure wisdom and entertainment.
If you didn't get at least five laughs out of Bill's missive today (i.e. "It must be unfathomable to such a man that the world could work in ways that surpass his understanding") then I suggest you stick with Tom and Dan and save yourself some aggravation.
Hola Brother Dave -
Nah. He prefers to complain because apparently someone, somewhere puts a gun to his head and makes him read Bill's stuff. I'd say Jbaskt is just a grouchy old bastard, but I'm not familiar with his parentage...
Jb, we are broke. Anything else you would like to know?
You must have missed that last line….”More to come.”