tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post126878021848836719..comments2024-03-29T02:22:59.827-04:00Comments on the daily howler: MAN AND MANDARIN: McArdle’s new framework!<b>bob somerby</b>http://www.blogger.com/profile/02963464534685954436noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-54898347449820224052015-04-19T23:47:25.694-04:002015-04-19T23:47:25.694-04:00Ralph Lauren Outlet
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There is nothing original here. As noted earlier, James Fallows warned of an emerging elite celebrity-journalist class 20 years ago. And concerning Somerby's Cokie-Sam rant, Bill Moyers had been warning for at least 20 years the trend toward "horse race" coverage of politics rather than an examination of issues.<br /><br />2. McArdle's premise is that journalism has become an "elite" profession open only to a privileged few. Granted, journalism is like a Third World country where only a few make it big, while the vast majority starve. But journalism is no more "elite" than teaching. It is largely populated by young people working long, long hours for terrible pay who eventually give it up because they can't make a living at it.<br /><br />3. McArdle's post, like most of her stuff, is rambling, poorly written and poorly thought out. A mile wide and an inch deep, if you will. Call that ad hominem if you want, but that is a point even Someby concedes.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-61740758407928581392013-02-27T09:33:21.030-05:002013-02-27T09:33:21.030-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.CeceliaMchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16017255006204800193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-90453504041129523952013-02-27T09:33:07.907-05:002013-02-27T09:33:07.907-05:00I've been chewing on the Mandarin analogy for ...I've been chewing on the Mandarin analogy for days now.<br /><br />Thanks, for blogging on it.CeceliaMchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16017255006204800193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-69945850522531537772013-02-27T09:28:05.851-05:002013-02-27T09:28:05.851-05:00Well, I think these comments prove Bob's main ...Well, I think these comments prove Bob's main points. Instead of dealing with McArdle's ideas nearly everyone simply dismisses them on ad hominem grounds. McArdle often says silly things so this idea must be silly, too. But it's not and what she says needs to be taken seriously. The US is developing a much more rigid class structure and the good jobs (heck, most of the jobs these days) are going to those whose parents (and grandparents) had good jobs and who know the script(s). And those scripts are all about personality and connections and not much about ideas. Too bad; the US was once a country that could be admired. Not so much anymore.SJnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-28758875030123255232013-02-27T08:37:48.823-05:002013-02-27T08:37:48.823-05:00That is the logical extension of McArdle's pie...That is the logical extension of McArdle's piece in the aftermath of Sandy Hook, which was painful to slog through.<br /><br />Those unfamiliar with Somerby's newly anointed savant should start with that piece. It will leave you wondering why anybody would hire that person to write anything, let alone a blog that should require some degree of skill in conciseness (if that is a word).<br /><br />Her point was that since there is no perfect solution to mass murder, we should do as close to nothing as possible (she does, however, favor a ban on high-capacity magazines) and train unarmed people to rush the next mass killer.<br /><br />But she used lord only knows how many words to say that at the very end of her piece as she lamented how mean her Facebook "friends" have been to her.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-76990731820265208862013-02-27T01:57:18.703-05:002013-02-27T01:57:18.703-05:00Chris Hayes' "lean forward" promo is...Chris Hayes' "lean forward" promo is a classic. The angst in trying to find just the right words to express his heartfelt concern for those without health insurance "by no fault of their own", is one part Coltrane striving to hit the perfect note in A Love Supreme, one part insincere TV preacher.<br /><br />Corporate safe liberalism without pesky class consciousness. MaxFrostnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-37376663703669794402013-02-27T01:42:00.875-05:002013-02-27T01:42:00.875-05:00"If McArdle is 'a truly stellar test-take..."If McArdle is 'a truly stellar test-taker,' why is her B.A. just from Penn?"<br /><br />That's a mandarin joke. Got it? urban legendnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-81655747924806345932013-02-27T00:21:00.208-05:002013-02-27T00:21:00.208-05:00I think Megan McCardle is one of the most despicab...I think Megan McCardle is one of the most despicable pundits writing today. (She has a history, in case any of her admirers here cares to investigate it.) Whether or not she now and then may make a point that sounds reasonable in isolation from everything else she says, so what? <br /><br />It's beginning to feel like Mr. Somerby, who will never forgive any number of liberal commentators for what they said 10 or 15 years ago because they haven't grovelingly sought forgiveness, goes trawling for truly obnoxious conservative and libertarian commentators' occasional pronouncements that he feels he may be able to hold up for praise. How open-minded of him! Bull shit. <br /><br />This is NOT the way to construct a healthy civic discourse. mchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-12310134763700321872013-02-26T18:51:39.333-05:002013-02-26T18:51:39.333-05:00Well as McCardle explicitly says she includes hers...Well as McCardle explicitly says she includes herself I don't think she's pretending to be all that different. I think she's emphasizing just how narrow a path these elites trod if even her history is off center. Also, as someone who has witnessed the cult of the MBA in corporate America this past generation, I think she's right about "stints in line jobs" too. <br />I don't share her libertarianism but I think her comments about the mandarin class are valuable and the extremely confined nature of their experience and the huge value given to a fairly narrow range of skills are worthy of our concern. Don't you ? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-19920501328313877292013-02-26T18:46:20.189-05:002013-02-26T18:46:20.189-05:00Bob, really, truly, please. You are completely emb...Bob, really, truly, please. You are completely embarrassing yourself. Do you know nothing about Megan McCurdle? She is the epitome of all you profess to detest. Do a little research, so you can read this column of hers with a little intelligence. You seem just to have discovered McMegan. Jeesh. Your credibility really is on the line.<br />mchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-11535342004169637112013-02-26T18:20:49.139-05:002013-02-26T18:20:49.139-05:00This TDH piece wasn't about Hayes, it was abou...This TDH piece wasn't about Hayes, it was about McArdle. And McArdle pretends she is somehow different from those she criticizes and yet there is no observable difference in her background or outlook from those she is trying to marginalize by calling them "mandarins." <br /><br />McArdle's piece isn't titled "I Am a New Mandarin." <br /><br />(Jane Galt "leans" libertarian...I did have to smile, that's pretty funny.)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-5737265198178673282013-02-26T18:06:58.493-05:002013-02-26T18:06:58.493-05:00That was a good call. That was a good call. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-19334085741521457512013-02-26T17:45:41.542-05:002013-02-26T17:45:41.542-05:00Wait! Wait! Wasn't McArdle the one that sugge...Wait! Wait! Wasn't McArdle the one that suggested that at the next school shooting husky boys should rush the shooter to get him to stop?<br /><br />Just sayin...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-62703792335113234032013-02-26T16:49:05.869-05:002013-02-26T16:49:05.869-05:00Red tribe bad.Red tribe bad.Matt in the Crownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02083162679471045642noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-11225957886926249412013-02-26T16:01:41.986-05:002013-02-26T16:01:41.986-05:00To those who can't see any merit in this post:...To those who can't see any merit in this post: Ok, so some of Bob’s crankiness is once again on display in this entry <br />and Megan McCardle leans toward the conservative/libertarian side of the political spectrum. But I think McCardle’s central concern has merit or is at least worthy of consideration without any snark. We do seem to have a class of “mandarins” who dominate policy discussions who are mostly the product of a very special and narrow range of American life. Among other things close experience of working class life is almost entirely missing in these ranks and this is is a problem for progressives as much as it is for conservatives. Chris Hayes’s book mentions some similar themes. Why is it ok for him to note this and not ok for McCardle ? <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-37604246230171501162013-02-26T15:06:22.395-05:002013-02-26T15:06:22.395-05:00TBogg, will take this column down tonight at Fire ...TBogg, will take this column down tonight at Fire Dog Lake as may Charlie Pierce. That may be a little more instructive than this TDH.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-36738289106024113532013-02-26T13:31:14.097-05:002013-02-26T13:31:14.097-05:00Well, what we about to get is another long screed ...Well, what we about to get is another long screed about Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and everybody younger, brighter, and more successful that Somerby whose got their own show on MSNBC.<br /><br />These, dear readers, are Somerby's new "mandarins" with their thumbs on the scales, and their heels on the necks of the working class.<br /><br /> Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-20346021178240648422013-02-26T13:27:18.774-05:002013-02-26T13:27:18.774-05:00Don't forget this choice part: "I grew up...Don't forget this choice part: "I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and went through middle and high school at what is now the most expensive private school in New York City. (I should note that it wasn't anything of the kind when I went there. But still.) "<br /><br />Of course, and Harvard wasn't "anything of the kind" when Somerby went there, either.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-51437037485241260332013-02-26T12:21:35.582-05:002013-02-26T12:21:35.582-05:00"We think her piece was quite worthwhile, tho...<i>"We think her piece was quite worthwhile, though you do have to fight your way through passages like the one..."</i><br /><br />That's interesting, Bob. You know, I think I'm seeing a pattern emerging here. If a conservative writer presents shoddy work, you often find the piece nevertheless worthwhile; if a liberal writer does the same, it's a sign of creeping tribalism. Put another way, the conservative glass is half full...Quaker in a Basementnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-74493577502060388132013-02-26T11:46:49.722-05:002013-02-26T11:46:49.722-05:00Let's see...Ezra Klein is younger, but went to...Let's see...Ezra Klein is younger, but went to an excellent public high school and then UCLA. Is that mandarin class? Josh Marshall is older than McArdle. Umm, I guess Matthew Yglesias would fit the bill.<br /><br />After attending top universities,I don't see where McArdle has ever worked outside of electronic journalism. Except for her job at a construction firm--of course, according to Wikipedia:<br /><br />Her father, Francis X. McArdle, was former managing director of the GCA (General Contractors Association of New York)[4] during the Koch, Dinkins, and Giuliani administrations.<br /><br />And we are supposed to be hearing her call out the empty elitism of unnamed others? What?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-52305562020203871462013-02-26T11:28:38.362-05:002013-02-26T11:28:38.362-05:00I don't get it. Who is McArdle talking about? ...I don't get it. Who is McArdle talking about? She is very much part of the new mandarins she pretends to critique...she's the same age as Rachel Maddow. <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8611810694571930415.post-6296397700838011642013-02-26T10:15:17.036-05:002013-02-26T10:15:17.036-05:00Luke Russert comes to mind.Luke Russert comes to mind.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com