General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDrum Roll... it's TOM FRIEDMAN!
[font color=green]Tom Friedman, artist's conception[/font color]
I posted yesterday about about Atrios (Duncan Black) celebrating the tenth anniversary of the ESCHATON blog with a countdown of the biggest wankers of the decade in the field of High-Broderismignorant-ass self-styled-centrist but totally RW gibberish, and that the king or queen of wank would be announced today.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002569457
I thought Broder would win ytoday but perhaps Atrios decided to ease up on him because he's
Friedman possesses all of the qualities that make a pundit truly wankerific. He fetishizes a false "centrism" which is basically whatever Tom Friedman likes, imagining the Friedman agenda is both incredibly popular in the country and lacking any support from our current politicians, when in fact the opposite is usually true. Washington worships at the altar of the agenda of false centrism, and people often hate it. Problems abroad, even ones which really have nothing to do with us, should be solved by war, and problems at home should be solved by increasing the suffering of poor and middle class people. Even though one political party is pretty much implementing, or trying to implement, 99.999999% of the Friedman agenda, what we really need is a third party catering precisely to this silent majority of Friedmanites.
Truly great wankers possess a kind of glib narcissism, the belief that everything is about them while simultaneously disavowing any responsibility for anything. The important thing about an issue is whether it proves Tom Friedman fucking right, but if it doesn't we can just move on to the next big thing that will prove Tom Friedman fucking right. If you advocate for wars that go a bit bad, well, it's not your fault. If only Tom Friedman had been in charge everything would have been great.
Such wankers are impervious to criticism because they're always doing battle with straw critics. They never remember what they said last week, and assume you won't either.
... (Much More at Link)...
The state of the world is what it is in large part because people in positions of great power think this absurd buffoon of man is a Very Serious Person. This hasn't actually been the Eschaton Decade, it's been the Tom Friedman Decade. And the next one probably will be too.
We're fucked.
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2012/04/one-true-wanker-of-decade.html
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)While Friedman is a worthy choice, I'm guessing that the Queen of All Fucking Iraq now rues her hiatus from the chattering class. She would have been Wanker of the Decade based on her spurious reportage prior to the invasion of Iraq, but she needed to keep up her efforts. Her dubious relationship with turning aspens and Scooter Libby surely merited some consideration, but after getting fired by the New York Times, she hasn't been much in evidence for last few years. It cost her the title.
Congratulations to the Mighty Moustache of Discernment, and inventor of the Friedman Unit (approximately six months) during which all things shitty will surely turn to gold.
cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)bbgrunt
(5,281 posts)cthulu2016
(10,960 posts)CTyankee
(63,912 posts)actually. Brooks is even further lunatic, taking wankerism to another level. I sometimes think Brooks is truly unhinged.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)wanker of this decade. He didn't even get started at the Times until the last few years whereas Friedman has been laying down impenetrable clouds of toxic BS for a couple of decades. Give Brooks time.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)I can't watch him on TV any ore either. He gets that goofy look on his face and his moonbat smile and just dribbles incomprehensible stuff.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)cover Brooks with leaves. He is beyond the pale, a foolish and sanctimonious gobshite who continues to fill a much-needed void.