My response to David Brooks is that there is no progress. Only change. Sometimes it's annoying, sometimes beneficial, sometimes it comes at the point of a sword or barrel of a gun. Brook's leadership class has been a disaster and is responsible for how we got here: debt, inflation, censorship, loss of rights, surveillance state, illiterate underclass, energy that is expensive and unreliable. And an administrative state that just will not leave people alone. No one wants go go back to 1963. No one. But many want to get back just a little of what they have lost to Brooks and the right kind of people. They are morons standing on the shoulders of genius.
What a buffoon Brooks is. We all know which class we are in, but no normal person says “my class”. It’s a grammatical sleight of hand by Brooks, because he’s afraid of saying “we in the upper class”. So he’s a snob, but one that’s fearful of the rest of us. Good.
Earth-to-Brooks: Marc Hetherington was born in 1968. What he thinks about 1963 is beyond his ken.
IMO, when you watch PBS it seems like every show goes back to either 1963 or 1863. It's either about race discrimination or slavery--like a skipping record, again and again and again. All while ignoring the fact that the Confederate South and the Jim Crow South were continuously ruled by the Democrat party. There's a shamelessness and ignorance that rules the conscience of Brooks--Canadian born, btw--and his "class" contemporaries.
JC--> "Out-of-wedlock births are high among people who didn’t graduate from college because the Black out-of-wedlock birthrate skews the stats. Yet, you can’t say that in polite company because the solutions to that problem are painful, and not centralized government related."<--
The solutions are painful to Brooks cohort because it might require considering the behavioral norms of 1963, where out-of-wedlock births, as a percentage rate, were half or less than today. For reference, the so-called Moynihan Report from 1965 reported a black out-of-wedlock rate of 30%, as a scandalously alarming, contributing factor to black poverty in the US. The white rate today is 30%, while the black rate approaches 70%. People who talk openly about systemic racism might want to consider the systemic poverty caused by such intergenerational behavior. Waving away such issues and questions is far easier than painfully discussing the reality and facts of the matter.
Brooks--> "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."<--
Yet, Brooks doesn't trust the neutral arbiters of justice sufficiently to let the legal system play out. He must weigh-in with ad hominem smears, pursuing and reinforcing The Narrative that the collective "we" has constructed--as if a collective opinion of what is "deserving" is dispositive.
The fairest thing that I can say about Brooks is that he lives in a bubble of his own making, devoid of the reality the rest of us face on a daily basis. For anyone who's read Brooks' books, that bubble mentality and isolation is well apparent.
As long as you are a “card carrying member” of the correct “class” you get to unquestionably get away with murder. But if you aren’t, you don’t. That’s the message of Brooks’ commentary. French Revolution
Great article. I honestly find David Brooks singular in talent. He can write. Boy, is he lacking in just about every other quality and talent. I know people like him. Pathetic snobs - of no real use to anyone.
I'd suggest adding "Regime Change," by Notre Dame's Patrick Deneen to your reading list. The gap between the people and societal elites has never been so wide in my lifetime and it's fueling a dangerous level of resentment. I'm at a loss as to suggest how we bridge this divide.
Less govt. Less govt regulation. Less captured govt regulation. Less subsidy. Fewer tax breaks (Fairtax.org). Let people be free and choose for themselves and let the market system work. Permissionless society.
USAFA also recruited me, it was coach Reggie Minton who visited my house. Amazing visit, I had a spot set aside, then at the end of the visit he informed me about the two week Freshmen boot camp and the parachuting part of it. I thought, well maybe some of the other schools would be better for me. Fran Dumphy was at Penn, and my dad spent a couple hours on the phone with one of his assistants regarding what we would qualify for, which was nothing. My old man was a high school history teacher and basketball coach, his father however would rise to the head of the IBEW local 125 and once carried the moniker of the "meanest man in Tacoma, Washington", hence the strong white trash ties. My grandfather was Archie Bunker but could fight. My grandfather's side of my family mostly spent time in jail. We were middle class, barely.
I ended up going to Fordham University in the Bronx, played for a really good man, Coach Nick Makarchuk who was an assistant at Providence under Dave Gavitt back in the Marvin Bad News Barnes and Ernie D days. His stories were regarding his time as an assistant at PU were unreal. I also had the fortune of playing with and being hosted on my visit to Fordham by one of Rutgers finer coaches of the last 30 years, Mike Rice. Great way to go to school for free. I also was asked to take the SAT again to see if I could get it a bit higher so they could take my SAT ant put it with another kid they were trying to get in and tell Fordham's admission's look, together they equal over 1,800 with an average of over 900 for our incoming freshmen class.
Great story! Coach Minton was a really really great guy. So was Coach Kraft. There is a reason that Popovich of San Antonio is the way he is (he played at USAFA). When I was at the end of BCT I was terribly homesick. I was torn and didn't think it was for me. Much of that was my own immaturity. You get those voices in your own head, and they don't stop---plus I was stubborn and I felt like I had the ability to play at a higher level, so my ego got in the way.
Coach Minton pulled me in his office and said, "I know you are homesick." I was in tears. Then he said, "You know in a few months you will be walking down the terrazzo with the ugliest girl I ever saw and you will think she is beautiful." He meant it as a joke but it hit a kid like me exactly wrong! I was like, "no way".
I thought I could find a different way, play at a JC and transfer but I was wrong. I could have walked on and never played or travelled at Illinois but by then it would have been a total waste of time. I liked practice. I didn't love practice.
At least you went to Fordham and not West Waco State. I am fortunate some place like that didn't offer me a ride. At least you got educated, and set yourself on the right course. How many kids get rides to schools and NEVER go to class? My friend Chris Gandy who starred at Illinois talked about that at length. Gandy went to class.....he's got a tremendous insurance business now.
Coach Minton was a super nice man, that is for sure. Maturity, wish it was something I had when I was in college as well. I tore my first ACL after my freshmen year and decided I liked drinking more than I liked class. I was not allowed to get a master's because FU was part of the Patriot league, a horribly conceived concept that did none of the schools in that league any favors and the league eventually abandoned the non-scholarship part of its treatment of sports. In the end I got undergraduate degrees in history and economics with a minor in religion. Made me a triple threat in discussions at a Catholic school in that I was not catholic, but understood the church's history, epistemology and finances better then all of my classmates who were Catholic. The game was hard on my body tearing both ACL's in college, had one ankle surgery in between and eventually having the other ankle cut on when I was 29. But we played in some great places at Christmas like Hawaii, at Arizona, Nashville and Miami. I also have an NCAA ring, which is very cool. It was in my redshirt year but we played against John Calipari's UMass team up in Worcester and it was something to come out to practice with 8,000 people in the stands. I have been blessed in more ways then I deserved to be. Coach Markachuk had a 99.9% graduation in his time at Fordham, it was the highest of the non-ivy league schools. This was before schools literally started offering degrees in under water BB stacking so that was some accomplishment.
Exceptional piece. When people with entirely isolated world views are given the bullhorn, the earplugs come out. The elites embody this ability like no other.
Brooks, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away once had some things right. Now, well he sold his soul to be part of the cool kids club a long time ago. Facts bounce off of him on most topics like bullets off of Superman's chest. Being nothing more then good old white trash that was able through good test scores and a basketball scholarship able to go to a private school in NYC my parents would have never been able to afford, I was able to set my life on a course I otherwise may not have been able to. That is the American dream. I too got offers from the Ivy league schools to play hoops from them but two things deterred me: 1. My parents could never afford it and I to did now want the debt 2. I had a friend playing at Yale and he told me not to go there if I can go somewhere else for free because the teachers and the students hate the athletes and are openly hostile to them and the athletes often will get C's no matter how well they perform in class.
Ha. I had a similar path. Seth Greenberg in my living room when he was an assistant at Columbia. I love Seth. But, he was like an alien in our world. I will never forget the look on my English teacher's face when I told her I was applying to Columbia. She said that she didn't know you could get into top schools with a good jump shot....that was my ticket in although to be fair, my grades were not dismal.
True story. Coach Egan at USAFA wanted a bit higher SAT score for me. So, I went downtown to take the test again. After I took it, I hit the streets. It was St. Paddy's Day and I was 17. I called up Coach a couple of weeks later and asked how that score was. He said they could get me in on my first score. One regret I have in life is not playing for him.
My upbringing wasn't "white trash"-far far from it. I was middle to upper middle class. My father grew up poor, but had a PhD in Education and made it all on his own. He had a tough climb but made it. He didn't want the path to be as hard for me....
Great points. I find most of it compelling and I do believe that far too many see the Ivies and place like UofC as their key to the club. Problem is, if you aren’t in the club to begin with, you never will be. Those at Harvard that are in will never allow those who aren’t to be a part of it. Is it a path to financial success? Sure. But money can’t even buy one’s way in. For journalists like Brooks, reporting about and rubbing elbows with insiders is as close as they’ll get. They’ll speak the words because it gives them credibility. But they’re not insiders. Not really. Never will be. This is why places like Harvard and Yale have further methods of keeping outsiders out. Final clubs, “social” organizations, certain Greek organizations. They serve to further subdivide the great unwashed from the elites.
Those of us that have clawed ourselves up to higher rungs on the socio-economic ladder have a lot to be proud of. But we should never suffer under the delusion that we or our children will ever be inside.
David Brooks is tolerated at the NY Times because he is perpetually stretching in his bed but never wakes up. If perchance he did wake up, he'd be gone in an instant.
Your best piece yet. I almost didn't read it because I hate Brooks but it was great. Thank you.
thank you
My response to David Brooks is that there is no progress. Only change. Sometimes it's annoying, sometimes beneficial, sometimes it comes at the point of a sword or barrel of a gun. Brook's leadership class has been a disaster and is responsible for how we got here: debt, inflation, censorship, loss of rights, surveillance state, illiterate underclass, energy that is expensive and unreliable. And an administrative state that just will not leave people alone. No one wants go go back to 1963. No one. But many want to get back just a little of what they have lost to Brooks and the right kind of people. They are morons standing on the shoulders of genius.
What a buffoon Brooks is. We all know which class we are in, but no normal person says “my class”. It’s a grammatical sleight of hand by Brooks, because he’s afraid of saying “we in the upper class”. So he’s a snob, but one that’s fearful of the rest of us. Good.
Earth-to-Brooks: Marc Hetherington was born in 1968. What he thinks about 1963 is beyond his ken.
IMO, when you watch PBS it seems like every show goes back to either 1963 or 1863. It's either about race discrimination or slavery--like a skipping record, again and again and again. All while ignoring the fact that the Confederate South and the Jim Crow South were continuously ruled by the Democrat party. There's a shamelessness and ignorance that rules the conscience of Brooks--Canadian born, btw--and his "class" contemporaries.
JC--> "Out-of-wedlock births are high among people who didn’t graduate from college because the Black out-of-wedlock birthrate skews the stats. Yet, you can’t say that in polite company because the solutions to that problem are painful, and not centralized government related."<--
The solutions are painful to Brooks cohort because it might require considering the behavioral norms of 1963, where out-of-wedlock births, as a percentage rate, were half or less than today. For reference, the so-called Moynihan Report from 1965 reported a black out-of-wedlock rate of 30%, as a scandalously alarming, contributing factor to black poverty in the US. The white rate today is 30%, while the black rate approaches 70%. People who talk openly about systemic racism might want to consider the systemic poverty caused by such intergenerational behavior. Waving away such issues and questions is far easier than painfully discussing the reality and facts of the matter.
Brooks--> "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."<--
Yet, Brooks doesn't trust the neutral arbiters of justice sufficiently to let the legal system play out. He must weigh-in with ad hominem smears, pursuing and reinforcing The Narrative that the collective "we" has constructed--as if a collective opinion of what is "deserving" is dispositive.
The fairest thing that I can say about Brooks is that he lives in a bubble of his own making, devoid of the reality the rest of us face on a daily basis. For anyone who's read Brooks' books, that bubble mentality and isolation is well apparent.
As long as you are a “card carrying member” of the correct “class” you get to unquestionably get away with murder. But if you aren’t, you don’t. That’s the message of Brooks’ commentary. French Revolution
Great article. I honestly find David Brooks singular in talent. He can write. Boy, is he lacking in just about every other quality and talent. I know people like him. Pathetic snobs - of no real use to anyone.
I'd suggest adding "Regime Change," by Notre Dame's Patrick Deneen to your reading list. The gap between the people and societal elites has never been so wide in my lifetime and it's fueling a dangerous level of resentment. I'm at a loss as to suggest how we bridge this divide.
Less govt. Less govt regulation. Less captured govt regulation. Less subsidy. Fewer tax breaks (Fairtax.org). Let people be free and choose for themselves and let the market system work. Permissionless society.
USAFA also recruited me, it was coach Reggie Minton who visited my house. Amazing visit, I had a spot set aside, then at the end of the visit he informed me about the two week Freshmen boot camp and the parachuting part of it. I thought, well maybe some of the other schools would be better for me. Fran Dumphy was at Penn, and my dad spent a couple hours on the phone with one of his assistants regarding what we would qualify for, which was nothing. My old man was a high school history teacher and basketball coach, his father however would rise to the head of the IBEW local 125 and once carried the moniker of the "meanest man in Tacoma, Washington", hence the strong white trash ties. My grandfather was Archie Bunker but could fight. My grandfather's side of my family mostly spent time in jail. We were middle class, barely.
I ended up going to Fordham University in the Bronx, played for a really good man, Coach Nick Makarchuk who was an assistant at Providence under Dave Gavitt back in the Marvin Bad News Barnes and Ernie D days. His stories were regarding his time as an assistant at PU were unreal. I also had the fortune of playing with and being hosted on my visit to Fordham by one of Rutgers finer coaches of the last 30 years, Mike Rice. Great way to go to school for free. I also was asked to take the SAT again to see if I could get it a bit higher so they could take my SAT ant put it with another kid they were trying to get in and tell Fordham's admission's look, together they equal over 1,800 with an average of over 900 for our incoming freshmen class.
Great story! Coach Minton was a really really great guy. So was Coach Kraft. There is a reason that Popovich of San Antonio is the way he is (he played at USAFA). When I was at the end of BCT I was terribly homesick. I was torn and didn't think it was for me. Much of that was my own immaturity. You get those voices in your own head, and they don't stop---plus I was stubborn and I felt like I had the ability to play at a higher level, so my ego got in the way.
Coach Minton pulled me in his office and said, "I know you are homesick." I was in tears. Then he said, "You know in a few months you will be walking down the terrazzo with the ugliest girl I ever saw and you will think she is beautiful." He meant it as a joke but it hit a kid like me exactly wrong! I was like, "no way".
I thought I could find a different way, play at a JC and transfer but I was wrong. I could have walked on and never played or travelled at Illinois but by then it would have been a total waste of time. I liked practice. I didn't love practice.
At least you went to Fordham and not West Waco State. I am fortunate some place like that didn't offer me a ride. At least you got educated, and set yourself on the right course. How many kids get rides to schools and NEVER go to class? My friend Chris Gandy who starred at Illinois talked about that at length. Gandy went to class.....he's got a tremendous insurance business now.
Coach Minton was a super nice man, that is for sure. Maturity, wish it was something I had when I was in college as well. I tore my first ACL after my freshmen year and decided I liked drinking more than I liked class. I was not allowed to get a master's because FU was part of the Patriot league, a horribly conceived concept that did none of the schools in that league any favors and the league eventually abandoned the non-scholarship part of its treatment of sports. In the end I got undergraduate degrees in history and economics with a minor in religion. Made me a triple threat in discussions at a Catholic school in that I was not catholic, but understood the church's history, epistemology and finances better then all of my classmates who were Catholic. The game was hard on my body tearing both ACL's in college, had one ankle surgery in between and eventually having the other ankle cut on when I was 29. But we played in some great places at Christmas like Hawaii, at Arizona, Nashville and Miami. I also have an NCAA ring, which is very cool. It was in my redshirt year but we played against John Calipari's UMass team up in Worcester and it was something to come out to practice with 8,000 people in the stands. I have been blessed in more ways then I deserved to be. Coach Markachuk had a 99.9% graduation in his time at Fordham, it was the highest of the non-ivy league schools. This was before schools literally started offering degrees in under water BB stacking so that was some accomplishment.
Your stories in the comments are almost as good as the piece they’re attached to. Love this stuff.
Exceptional piece. When people with entirely isolated world views are given the bullhorn, the earplugs come out. The elites embody this ability like no other.
Brilliant picture
Brooks, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away once had some things right. Now, well he sold his soul to be part of the cool kids club a long time ago. Facts bounce off of him on most topics like bullets off of Superman's chest. Being nothing more then good old white trash that was able through good test scores and a basketball scholarship able to go to a private school in NYC my parents would have never been able to afford, I was able to set my life on a course I otherwise may not have been able to. That is the American dream. I too got offers from the Ivy league schools to play hoops from them but two things deterred me: 1. My parents could never afford it and I to did now want the debt 2. I had a friend playing at Yale and he told me not to go there if I can go somewhere else for free because the teachers and the students hate the athletes and are openly hostile to them and the athletes often will get C's no matter how well they perform in class.
Ha. I had a similar path. Seth Greenberg in my living room when he was an assistant at Columbia. I love Seth. But, he was like an alien in our world. I will never forget the look on my English teacher's face when I told her I was applying to Columbia. She said that she didn't know you could get into top schools with a good jump shot....that was my ticket in although to be fair, my grades were not dismal.
True story. Coach Egan at USAFA wanted a bit higher SAT score for me. So, I went downtown to take the test again. After I took it, I hit the streets. It was St. Paddy's Day and I was 17. I called up Coach a couple of weeks later and asked how that score was. He said they could get me in on my first score. One regret I have in life is not playing for him.
My upbringing wasn't "white trash"-far far from it. I was middle to upper middle class. My father grew up poor, but had a PhD in Education and made it all on his own. He had a tough climb but made it. He didn't want the path to be as hard for me....
Great points. I find most of it compelling and I do believe that far too many see the Ivies and place like UofC as their key to the club. Problem is, if you aren’t in the club to begin with, you never will be. Those at Harvard that are in will never allow those who aren’t to be a part of it. Is it a path to financial success? Sure. But money can’t even buy one’s way in. For journalists like Brooks, reporting about and rubbing elbows with insiders is as close as they’ll get. They’ll speak the words because it gives them credibility. But they’re not insiders. Not really. Never will be. This is why places like Harvard and Yale have further methods of keeping outsiders out. Final clubs, “social” organizations, certain Greek organizations. They serve to further subdivide the great unwashed from the elites.
Those of us that have clawed ourselves up to higher rungs on the socio-economic ladder have a lot to be proud of. But we should never suffer under the delusion that we or our children will ever be inside.
"Trump is a monster in the way we’ve all been saying for years..."
What the damn hell - a "monster"? These people are nuts.
("Buffoon," "bully," "blowhard," "arriviste," sure. But "monster"? These people have created a boogeyman in their own minds.)
David Brooks is tolerated at the NY Times because he is perpetually stretching in his bed but never wakes up. If perchance he did wake up, he'd be gone in an instant.
From the prophet Bob Dylan written in about 1963:
How many years must a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea?
Yes and how many years must a people exist before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes and how many times can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer my friend is blowing in the wind. The answer is blowing in the wind.
So true. You do have to correct one thing. University of Pennsylvania is a private school. Penn State is the public institution there.
Ha, you are correct. I was making the point it's named after a state. God forbid someone goes to Indiana or the University of South Carolina.....
I'll take the Big Ten and flyover country any day over "the elites." Except Michigan.