
A Brief Theory of Very Serious People - smacktoward
http://crookedtimber.org/2015/07/22/a-brief-theory-of-very-serious-people/
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jngreenlee
This article pokes slightly at Tom Friedman (whom I personally can't take
seriously), so here's a little bit of why:

"Friedman supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, writing that the establishment
of a democratic state in the Middle East would force other countries in the
region to liberalize and modernize."[1]

"Nevertheless, until his piece dated August 4, 2006, his columns remained
hopeful to the possibility of a positive conclusion to the Iraq conflict [...]
Friedman chided George W. Bush and Tony Blair for "hyping" the evidence, and
stated plainly that converting Iraq to democracy "would be a huge undertaking,
though, and maybe impossible, given Iraq's fractious history"."[1]

"his recurrent assertion that "the next six months" will prove critical in
determining the outcome of the conflict. A May 2006 study by Fairness and
Accuracy in Reporting cited 14 examples of Friedman's declaring the next "few
months" or "six months" as a decisive or critical period"[1]

Anywho, just a bit of explanation for why they might be noting him, since the
article doesn't strictly require him to make the theory work.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Friedman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Friedman)

~~~
smacktoward
For the definitive Tom Friedman takedown, consult Matt Taibbi's 2005 review of
Friedman's book _The World Is Flat_ :
[http://www.alternet.org/story/21856/flathead/?page=entire](http://www.alternet.org/story/21856/flathead/?page=entire)

 _Friedman is such a genius of literary incompetence that even his most
innocent passages invite feature-length essays. I 'll give you an example,
drawn at random from "The World Is Flat." On page 174, Friedman is describing
a flight he took on Southwest Airlines from Baltimore to Hartford,
Connecticut. (Friedman never forgets to name the company or the brand name; if
he had written "The Metamorphosis," Gregor Samsa would have awoken from uneasy
dreams in a Sealy Posturepedic.) Here's what he says:_

 _" I stomped off, went through security, bought a Cinnabon, and glumly sat at
the back of the B line, waiting to be herded on board so that I could hunt for
space in the overhead bins."_

 _Forget the Cinnabon. Name me a herd animal that hunts. Name me one._

~~~
joehilton
Does a wolf pack count as a herd?

Or possibly the raptors I keep hearing so much about at the movies?

If we're going to critique Friedman, I agree that his verbosity is fair game,
but hardly the best criticism. How about his just being plain wrong about
almost everything? How about his not including the proliferation of the
English language through developing India as a flattener, especially as the
language adopted by virtually all programming languages?

Anyway, I'm not a particular Friedman fan either, but sometimes the critics
seem to miss just as much of the point as he does (unless, of course, I'm the
one missing the point - which is always possible).

------
0xdeadbeefbabe
I suspect the saying, "don't be so open minded that your brain falls out" is a
threat about having only fashionable thoughts, a fashion statement, if you
will.

