David Brooks has a typically wafer thin column today, this time bemoaning the loss of the cultural in everyday life. He cites as an example the fact that Time magazine in years gone by was wont to publish heady theses on Hemingway and the other significant scribes of the day, and painters, and theologians.
Is it me? I mean, am I missing something here?
Or am I right... that Brooks is currently in bed with the current ruling class, which has to be among the most anti-intellectual group ever to run this country. I'm right, aren't I?
Here is what I think of when I think of intellectual life and the current ruling class.
*We have a president who boasts that he doesn't like reading books, or newspapers.
*We have a first lady who cancelled an homage to Langston Hughes when she was informed that the great Harlem poet would roll over in his grave to be associated with the politics of the current White House. A first lady who only cares about great poets when they can be manipulated to suit her political purposes.
*We have an administration that HATES scientific inquiry. HATES it. Passionately.
*We have a ruling class that is actively seeking to censor professors of humanities all across the country.
*We have a Congress that wants to eliminate public funding for public radio and television, and has a long-standing antipathy towards any state role in promoting the arts.
*We have a military class that invades the home of the oldest civilization on earth and never thinks for a moment to protect that nation's (and the world') cultural heritage, allowing thousands of priceless and irreplaceable archeological artifacts to find their way into the black market.
*We have a ruling class that regularly demonizes the great artists of our time, actors, writers, and musicians, by branding them anti-American.
*We have a ruling class that refuses to engage in a free exchange of ideas, hiding instead behind ad hominem attacks and demagoguery.
GEE, DAVID BROOKS, I CAN'T UNDERSTAND FOR THE LIFE OF ME WHY INTELLECTUAL LIFE IS SUFFERING.
AND LET'S NOT FORGET THAT CRAP THAT SPEWS OUT OF THE PEN OF DAVID BROOKS PASSES IN THIS COUNTRY FOR INTELLIGENT POLITICAL DISCOURSE.
Better stop now before this turns into a full blown rant.