David Brooks of NYT wonders if "we are the bad guys"

I do not have access to NYT, so I havent read the entire article. I have watched a video where they say that in summation he sheepishly says that but maybe we have to be bad cuz orange man. I am paraphrasing that.

Here is the part that I was able to read:

I ask you to try on a vantage point in which we anti-Trumpers are not the eternal good guys. In fact, we’re the bad guys.

This story begins in the 1960s, when high school grads had to go off to fight in Vietnam but the children of the educated class got college deferments. It continues in the 1970s, when the authorities imposed busing on working-class areas in Boston but not on the upscale communities like Wellesley where they themselves lived.

The ideal that we’re all in this together was replaced with the reality that the educated class lives in a world up here and everybody else is forced into a world down there. Members of our class are always publicly speaking out for the marginalized, but somehow we always end up building systems that serve ourselves.

The most important of those systems is the modern meritocracy. We built an entire social order that sorts and excludes people on the basis of the quality that we possess most: academic achievement. Highly educated parents go to elite schools, marry each other, work at high-paying professional jobs and pour enormous resources into our children, who get into the same elite schools, marry each other and pass their exclusive class privileges down from generation to generation.

www.nytimes.com...




Also is it not odd that I am sure and Ivy League educated jounalist confuses meritocracy with nepotism? I suppose if you are an elite as he is you do live in a system within a nepotistic system that values certain school education over others though. I suppose that could be weakly defined as meritocracy???




MOD NOTE
Article in NYT behind a paywall
pjmedia.com...

Self-confidence breeds power, just stay out of politics and be on a path of righteousness in life.

People should be very, very sceptical of the liberal push to champion Trump. They wouldn't be going so far out of their way to ensure he's the GOP nominee without one hell of a fool-proof plan, IMO.

I have no idea what the plan may be, but they're way to confident. Perhaps Trump will succumb to a heart attack if he wins, catapulting the DNC candidate to the throne?

Things aren't adding up, folks; the left is making a Trump win far to easy.

a reply to: greendust

I agree with this statement. I thought the writer was misusing the word meritocracy, but I didn't dwell on that. You have stated the problem well and made it clear what I was getting when I read that part of this article.

Also is it not odd that I am sure and Ivy League educated jounalist confuses meritocracy with nepotism? I suppose if you are an elite as he is you do live in a system within a nepotistic system that values certain school education over others though. I suppose that could be weakly defined as meritocracy???

It doesn't surprise me that certain people on the left aren't interested in vilifying Trump anymore. He's not the worst person who could get into a high office at DC.

#ing Ken Griffin is backing DeSantis. Whatever your leanings are, keep Griffin the # out of DC. He's worse than Trump or Biden, or whoever else you could possibly think of.

I liked DeSantis as the governor of Florida, but he's hobnobbing with absolute dregs of humanity. Ken Griffin is basically Satan. There are some people who you should not accept money from because you should not owe them favors. He is one of them.

I'm not sure who is worse. Ken Griffin or George Soros?

I just looked it up and yes Soros also made billions of dollars from short selling. These people are thieves who destroy American businesses in order to get rich.

Citadel Securities and it's 65 billion dollars of "stock sold, not yet purchased"

If you're not familiar with it this is a rabbit hole. The stock market is not a free or fair place. The regulatory agencies like the SEC, FINRA, and CFTC all look the other way when businesses are destroyed by packs of wolves who just want to rip them apart for their money. There are billionaires who are allowed to be rich, and there are entrepreneurs who are just sheep for the wolves. The megacorporations who make it to the S&P 500 are all run by people in the club.

Maybe Trump is a piece of # but at least he doesn't have to lick anyone's boots for campaign funds. He has the luxury to pick and choose who he hobnobs with and he has already admitted his major failing during his first term was the people he chose for his cabinet.

I would love to give him a second term and see who he picks next.

Does he actually represent me?

Do any of them? (The answer is no)

a reply to: greendust

No, people are not bad for fully embracing the opportunities given them to better themselves, their families, and others. They become bad if they intentionally look to exploit or subjugate other people/groups, which of course one could argue happens quite often.

Am I wrong in thinking that the socio-economic/cultural divide is a product of capitalism?

A more controversial question could be, is this not an extension of survival of the fitest.....and smartest?

I was somehow able to read the entire commentary.
very good. self-analysis and criticism. I doubt it will be received well.

I got a quote from;

“Like all elites, we use language and mores as tools to recognize one another and exclude others. Using words like “problematic,” “cisgender,” “Latinx” and “intersectional” is a sure sign that you’ve got cultural capital coming out of your ears. Meanwhile, members of the less-educated classes have to walk on eggshells because they never know when we’ve changed the usage rules so that something that was sayable five years ago now gets you fired.”

our 'elites' are a bunch of snotty jerks who would be helpless if the rest of us stopped taking care of them.

It isn't that odd either that our regular Biden defenders haven't commented on this or the thing I posted about Pelosi's daughter. I am almost starting to believe that they have to run it by their "elders" before they can respond.

I also read David Brooks OPINION - NYT - Friday, August 4, 2023

Here is two added excerpt paragraphs:

"In this added story we anti-Trumpers are the good guys, the forces of progress and enlightenment. The Trumpers are reactionary bigots and authoritarians. Many Republicans support Trump no matter what, according to this story, because at the end of the day he's still the bigot in chief, the embodiment of their resentments, and that's what matters to them most."

"Are Trump supporters right that the indictments are just a political witch hunt? Of course not. As a card-carrying member of my class, I still basically trust the legal system and the neutral arbiters of justice. Trump is a monster in the way we've all been saying for years and deserves to go to prison."

If you want to read this OPINION by David Brooks --- You should be able go to your public library and get free internet subscription to the NYT's or ask the librarian for a suppled back dated newspaper --- That is --- if you're lucky.


David Brooks is also on Friday evenings PBS NewsHour - Around 6:30 p.m., EST for his discussion about politics and the state of the world, today.