If you thought that inane pop culture political analogies would play a less prominent role in elite political discourse once people stopped reading Frank Bruni and MoDo…I present you with young Conor’s latest:
I’ve never watched “Arrested Development”, I’m sure it’s great, but I’m Ron Howard-phobic, so I couldn’t make heads or tails of the article.
I’ve long thought that young Conor would eventually land a top spot at some place like the New York Times (doing whatever it is he does at the Atlantic doesn’t qualify as a top spot). His combination of piety and stupidity will go over well with ostensibly well-educated but intellectually mediocre readers.
Maybe it’s a good time for me to stop reading all pundits.
dr. bloor
Picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue, yet again.
Mandalay
Correct. There is a whole world out there.
smintheus
Isn’t that series about a collection of out-of-touch nitwits? Would seem to describe the stable of pundits at The Atlantic, with a few exceptions.
SatanicPanic
I am in favor of not reading of all pundits.
Seanly
MEOW!
And, yes, stop reading pundits.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
If I were less of an old I could come up with a hipper reference than Alex P Keaton doing an imitation of the post-shark-jump Fonz, but since the subject is (kind of) MoDoze any schtick feels shiny and new.
and after an epi and a half, I’m thinking I might give up the new AD
James Gary
Hm. I was hoping the title was a reference to “Beyond And Back” by X, but Google tells me it’s “Tennessee” by Arrested Development.
Not only that, but Google also says the line “Take me to another place” isn’t even in “Beyond And Back” (it’s “this is no place/to be addicted to another place.”)– so apparently I’ve been mishearing the lyrics for 25+ years.
Roger Moore
Whatever happened to “I read these idiots so you don’t have to”? And how are you going to troll effectively without reading what the people you’re imitating sound like?
ETA: And clearly, this is great news for John McCain.
jake the snake
No doubt it is a hipper version of P J O’Rourke’s atrocity at the Weakly (sub)Standard.
Violet
They add nothing. They’re just saying either what they think–in which case, who cares what they think–or they’re saying what they’re paid to say–in which case, you’re reading Koch crap. Why waste your time?
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
1. Why would you think you wouldn’t get pop culture references from elites? We all search for analogies where we can find them and other people can understand them.
2. Why would you have a Ron Howard phobia?
3. What’s the point of this post then?
Chyron HR
“On the next Arrested Development, Conor discovers that the man he thought was a bellhop… was actually the President of the United States.”
Grumpy Code Monkey
You read them so I don’t have to.
Shakezula
Wait. I thought AD was cancelled before Barack Hitler McCarthy Mussolini Obama was even nominated.
Ben Cisco
Conor Friesderp strikes again.
srv
If you had just written under your real nym, you would be where Conor is now.
There is just so much material to the left of GG and right of Bobo, you could be Super Villager.
Roger Moore
@Ben Cisco:
Where would you like your internets delivered?
SatanicPanic
@Roger Moore: I don’t have to read them so I’m OK with Doug not reading them either. I do, however, appreciate his WaPo trolling exploits.
Josie
Maybe it’s a good time for me to stop reading all pundits.
Nicole
@James Gary:
I assumed Doug was referring to “Beautiful Day.”
Suffern ACE
Well, since there were a few articles trying to explain how Obama was like Gatsby, why not? Next up. How Obama is like Sulley to Chris Christie’s Wazowski.
Turgidson
Now the story of a young pundit who sees drones everywhere, and no one gives a shit.
Josie
Oh, good grief. My blockquote attempt failed and now I can’t delete the comment. Here is what I meant to say:
“Maybe it’s a good time for me to stop reading all pundits.”
If by pundits, you mean stupid and/or vapid people who write nonsensical columns online or in newspapers, then, yes, I think you should avoid them altogether. I have started to skip any post that references Sullivan, GG, Young Conor, and several others I can’t think of at the moment. Why not read and write about people who actually make sense, like Krugman, Booman, etc?
Comrade Dread
If God/aliens/Angry Buddha come and seek to annihilate us and we beg and plead for our lives and ask what we did to deserve such a fate, I’m pretty sure they’ll point to stuff like this, at which time we’ll all collectively shrug and march into the incinerator realizing that He/they sort of have a good point.
Suffern ACE
Also, “the banana stand” is very similar to “two trillion dollar platinum coins”.
Marc
It’s a good time to stop reading all pundits and start watching Arrested Development. It’s nothing like any Ron Howard movie, so don’t let his involvement put you off.
Roger Moore
@Suffern ACE:
We want the readership to be able to identify the reference.
Mandalay
@Josie:
This, a gazillion times over.
Even if the criticism is valid, getting out the magnifying glass and panty sniffing for outrage in the latest article from Brooks or Sullivan or anyone else makes for a pretty boring blog.
Redshift
@Suffern ACE:
I would be amused to see a photoshop of that.
scav
@Nicole: There’s a certain twisted visual joy to be had in throwing a misremembered Calgon phrase into the quote-stream.
raven
Your friends they treat you
Like a guest
raven
@Nicole: Somebody to Love, Airplane.
Shinobi
I watch Arrested Development, that article still doesn’t make enough sense for me to read all of it.
(The war in Iraq actually played a fairly key role in the original series… So there are some clear tie ins, this article references none of them.)
piratedan
so does that mean that the lodestone to understanding the last Bush Presidency was Car 54, Where are you?
Alex S.
Well, the Bluths are a parody of the typical Orange Country Republican Family.
burnspbesq
Ask yourself the following question: “how does reading pundits improve my quality of life?”
Don’t like the answer? Then stop reading them.
piratedan
@Mandalay: and I would add voices like Ed Herbert, Charlie Pierce, Eugene Robinson and TNC to the list. Granted that the constituency here may differ to a lesser degree, but I am getting despairing of listening/reading to the ongoing debacle that is WashPo punditry for the logically and reality impaired.
? Martin
Can we impeach Obama for accepting a teddy bear he didn’t actually earn?
raven
@piratedan: Dere’s a holdup in da Bronx. . .
cleek
@burnspbesq:
does that include amateur pundits?
piratedan
@raven: ooooo, ooooo where are those FEMA trailers!
raven
@piratedan: Brooklyn’s broken out in fights
Anton Sirius
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
I wouldn’t call it a phobia, exactly, but I find every film he’s ever directed (that I’ve tried to watch at least) to be painfully, mind-numbingly banal.
Redshift
@Violet: I’m not so sure. Krugman has written quite a bit recently about how an active economics blogosphere resulted in the austerian economists being debunked much faster than they would have been in previous generations. I’d like to think that some of the same effect exists with the pundits, who do have influence with VSPs, whether we like it or not.
And while Harry Frankfurt demonstrated that you can’t defeat bullshit through rational argument, mockery does seem to be effective against it. Heck, I’d probably still be a complete totebagger if I hadn’t discovered political blogs. (Well, not complete; I hated David Brooks even in those days.) After a generation of it being cool to mock the pundits, maybe we can actually break their influence.
Anoniminous
Pundit: Hindi payndit, “a learned man, a master of a body of knowledge, a teacher” not an ignoramus, a facile spewer of nonsense, a parrot of talking points.
When getting down to the nitty-gritty: learning, like life is hard. A learner has to be willing to spend a good deal of time studying an issue, trying to grasp the ‘thing itself,’ in all it’s complexity, and the issue’s sitz im leben. A keen mind capable of balance, nuance, and judgment is required.
Easier to find a bunch of bullshitters spewing nonsense AND it plays to the deeply embedded American Know-Nothingism.
Redshift
Addendum to my previous comment — but I’m not going to read the idiot pundits, so I fully support our blog overlords doing it for me, as long as it’s not the entirety of the blog.
Mike in NC
The local rag just ran their first MoDo column, in which she uses her trademark snark and snide put-downs to decry the poor quality of programming on network television. She’s a TV critic, too? Who knew?
Ben Cisco
@Roger Moore: Cargo Bay 5, please.
Redshift
OT: My Twitter stream is blowing up with reports of a serious freight train derailment in suburban Maryland (between Baltimore and DC.) Reports are that it hit a tractor-trailer and there was an explosion, and it’s a hazmat situation. Pictures of the fire are also being posted.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
You could almost feel how much it galled MoDo that Obama made fun of her, and in public!
She’s a TV critic, too? Who knew?
At this point, I think she’s much better suited to that
Bruce S
I think The Atlantic is mired in schizophrenia more than “diversity” in it’s columnists and writers – but I have to say that aside from Fallows and TNC, the new business blogger Derek Thompson is quite a step up from the last one who shall remain nameless. He’s consistently quite good and/or instructively factual on the key issues like austerity, corporate taxes, etc.
Conor F is a non-entity IMHO. No reason to read that sophomoric glibertarian crap, no matter how earnest. I think if you’re looking for an earnest libertarian who is not a total asshole to engage with, try Brink Lindsay. Of course, it’s still a waste of time because there is no such cohort with any heft in the world of politics. You’d be better off trying to convince that Teatard cousin to move from White Populism to Progressive Populism.
IowaOldLady
@Anoniminous: I think that’s right.
What I want is to share talk with smart people who stretch my understanding. On a day-to-day basis, it’s too easy to get content with myself and think I already understand it all.
Mnemosyne
@Shakezula:
It’s back with new episodes.
raven
I am wrong I was thinking of 3/5 of a Mile in 10 seconds:
Do away with people blowing my mind
Do away with people wasting my precious time
Take me to a simple place
Where I can easily see my face
Maybe, baby I’ll see that you were kind
Know I love you baby, yes I do
Know I love you baby, yes I do
Mnemosyne
@Anton Sirius:
I liked Apollo 13, but I suspect that had a lot more to do with Tom Hanks than it did with Ron Howard.
Chris T.
How to stop reading pundits
Redshift
@IowaOldLady:
Very good description. I like informed people who either deepen my understanding or challenge it in interesting ways. Neither mindless contrarianism or smug certainty provide any of that, and they’re way too common among the punditry. But the few gems are worth seeking out.
I’ve always thought that part of the reason explicitly liberal media are never a raging success is that conservatives in general like to have things they already believe repeated to them endlessly, whereas liberals quickly get bored with it, so the formula doesn’t translate.
Mandalay
If you must follow pundits, pick ones from the Vatican. At least they have something important to say…
Brooks and Sullivan can’t ever top that.
The Red Pen
You may now stop reading pundits.
MikeJ
http://imgur.com/gallery/iFF2iwM
Nerdlinger
@Redshift: It helps that the econ blogosphere is dominated by actual economists, as opposed to professional opinionators.
Penus
Holy hell…this site is on the Internet, right? How on Earth is the comment section for this article, this week in particular, not overflowing with Arrested Development references?
I’m going to assume that the BJ commentariat hasn’t watched AD. For shame. A huge tiny mistake on the part of all of you.
Shakezula
@Redshift: It’s in White Marsh so close to Baltimore, not at all close to D.C.
WTF? The reports say nothing toxic aboard but the explosion was a big enough boom to break windows?
Yeah, I just love living a couple of blocks from a CSX line.
Redshift
@Nerdlinger: Yeah, that’s true. Are there blogs that are written by policy wonks in different specialties, rather than politics nerds? It seems like that’s what we’d need for a similar effect.
catclub
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “after an epi and a half”
I figured out episode. I first tried epidural.
Anoniminous
@piratedan:
Thanks for
nothingthe ear worm.@IowaOldLady:
Agree.
My problem with MSM Pundits is when they enter a topic I know something about they get it horribly, terribly, wrong … and in the most asinine way possible. Like when Bobo* start babbling on about Complexity Theory or Neuroscience or mathematics, (& etc.) It’s grotesque. Makes it impossible to take them seriously when they get on about things I don’t know.
——————————————————————————————-
* or Bonobo or Dildo or whatever that idiot’s moniker is
Kathleen
I actually clicked through to the article and saw the picture of Newt Gingrich wearng Rand Paul’s hair piece.
Redshift
@Shakezula:
Ah, I had a brain fart and was thinking of Rt. 32 when they said Rt. 40.
catclub
@Shakezula: true except for the time travel.
Redshift
@Anoniminous:
That seems an entirely sensible response.
Kathleen
@raven: There’s a traffic jam in Harlem that’s backed up to Jackson Heights. There’s a scout troop short a child, Kruschev’s due at Idlewild….
Ben Cisco
@Anoniminous: Actually, any of those would be good.
Nerdlinger
@Redshift: It’s not even a question of expertise, really. I just find the notion of punditry as a career description really noxious. Most of these assholes need to get a real fucking job, and blog on the side if they’re really that passionate about a particular subject. Either that, or do some real journalism.
ranchandsyrup
Headliner, I challenge you to a game of horseshoes.
A game of horseshooooooes!
Kay
I don’t like that particular type of punditry because I think it’s an attempt to define rather than describe, but I think looking at it can be worthwhile.
I specifically listen to Morning Joe on the radio so I can find out what horrible , damaging economic theme or plan they’re pushing. Again, as here, they don’t DESCRIBE events, they DEFINE events, and how they define them is often an indication of where they want to go with it.
I don’t like surprises.
Suffern ACE
I do wonder if the Soviet cultural ministry was nearly as demanding on cultural reception and prodcution as our current crop of high end political pundits. Forcing everything through the lens of the class struggle and promoting the advancement of the Soviet Revolution above all else. Honestly, our current poltical punditry are trying to propagandize their importance to society by forcing us to read all cultural production, no matter how trivial, through their narrow interest in elections and party politics. It’s pathological. Even Jungian-Freudian analrapists let some symbols just pass without comment.
Gerd Jemasz
Pundits… bunch of freaking Never-Nudes…
JoyousMN
I walked in the break room in time to see this media gem (courtesy of Fox, of course):
Obama apparently gave a speech and said, “Don’t spend your kids college money in Las Vegas.”
So Fox News, never missing an opportunity to find fault with everything he does, brings on the Las Vegas mayor who says, “Shame on Obama, bad mouthing us. It’s like going to Florida and saying ‘don’t drink the orange juice.’ ”
The stupidity of ODS is endless…
Mandalay
@Anoniminous:
Yep. The whole thing is a charade. Bill Maher regularly exposes his ignorance.
This is the greatest example I’ve seen of a pundit showing that they have no clue: Coulter prattling on about how Canada sent troops to Vietnam. After seeing that, even if you are a Coulter fan, how could you ever take her opinion on anything seriously?
Nobody can possibly be an expert about everything. The difference between a pundit and the rest of the world is that the pundit pretends.
d. b. cooper
Ron Howard only does voiceover for Arrested (and does a great job), he has nothing to do with the creative side. Saying you don’t watch AD because of a Ron Howard phobia makes you look ridiculous.
Kay
They were funny today because they’re in unison. Obama went to NJ to distract from what they’re all worked up about in DC.
But anything he does could be to “distract” from Benghazi, IRS or AP, unless he’s actually speaking on those topics, so really, why even bother saying it unless you’re not observing but instead defining?
They should just describe NJ trip and then say “Benghazi, IRS, AP”. Same thing.
Irish Steel
@cleek: Excellent question!
Joel
Every once in a while Conor turns out a good one. But more and more, he’s looking like what David Brooks imagine himself as being.
driftglass
Actually drawing stupid parallels between Presidents and teevee sitcoms is a time-tested Conservative pundit resume-builder:
http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2013/05/theyll-have-to-make-best-of-things.html
MikeJ
@driftglass: You left out Murphy Brown,
Eric U.
“all of them Katie”
I always thought that the death of the newspaper and the rise of the internet would feature a phase where the pundits would be out of a job. Who really needs pundits when you have the internet? But instead, what we have is a batch of high-priced pundits and the gutting of the news departments. Talk about hastening your own doom, I couldn’t think of a better recipe
eta: how many standard issue reporters could you hire if you got rid of George Will and his staff?
Hillary Rettig
“Give us something with with strong SEO-fu” probably explains the title, which in turn explains the content. That plus a long holiday weekend, necessitating the pre-writing of a piece that was evergreen-but-timely.
jc
I was thinking last week that Arrested Development is kind of an allegory (or is it metaphor?) for the USA … a dysfunctional wealthy family that constantly lies to each other and to themselves.
Starfish
This is the first of Doug Milhous J’s musical titles that I have ever understood. I feel so proud of myself.
lojasmo
One of my leftie physican colleagues asked me what I thought of Glenn Greenwald.
I told him I thought Greenwald was a fucking asshole, who sits next to teabaggers on the political circle.
He laughed.
We’ve been watching Arrested Development. I think it’s brilliant.
chopper
i dunno. Obama does remind me of Michael, the one sane person surrounded by a sea of idiot narcissists, forever stuck keeping the whole thing from going to shit.