Where David Brooks should be.
Where David Brooks is.
Okay, Okay. I shouldn’t read David Brooks. I shouldn’t give two shits about what that neo-Victorian finger-wagger is on about today. Butthis shit right here just left me gobsmacked. Read on!
[T]here is a misbegotten ideology haunting the land, the ideology of sunshinism. This is the belief that everything should be made public.
–snip–
Sunshinism is a destructive ideology. Forcing people to financially undress in public is just one of those incursions that repels decent people from running for office.
That’s right. You have just witnessed a man who has a cushy sinecure at the country’s premier newspaper just say that too much public information is a bad thing. Take a minute to let that sink in. And imagine if, say, the Commandant of the Marine Corps embraced pacifism, or the Pope suddenly decided that this whole “God” stuff is all bunkum and issued an encyclical stating that Holy Mother Church was to become the world’s foremost atheist organization. While my two scenarios are, essentially, punchlines, that’s what Brooks just did. David Brooks, ladies and gentlemen: walking punchline.
You should hit that link and read the whole thing. I don’t know if Brooks actually believes the bullshit he’s spewing or if it’s all a show, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. To be fair, Gail Collins does point out how stupid this idea is, but that’s akin to calling water wet at this point.
David Brooks: Go find another job, please. You’re one of the one percent; actually, even better, you’re a mouthpiece for them, so you’ll land okay. No breadlines for the likes of you, O Titan of the written word. But journalism? You’re doing the vast majority of us no favors with this, and it can’t make you feel good to have millions of people mutter “Christ, what an asshole” every time they see your picture.
But it shouldn’t be on Brooks to recognize what a schmuck he is. I mean, this enormous, gaping asshole has every right to his opinion. But I can’t imagine why a goddamned business that is (in theory, at least) committed to shining light into dark corners sees fit to cut him a check for this utter, utter crap.
Well played, dying industry. Well played.