Sunday, May 23, 2004
Kinsley Dons Bio-Hazard Suit, Approaches Pile of Toxic Shit Warily, Wittily
Kinsley reviews Brooks' new slab of benignly packaged poison:
'On Paradise Drive': Sociology or Shtick?So, Kinsley does a pretty good job. But there are places where I might have written differently. For instance, Kinsley writes:
By MICHAEL KINSLEY
The Brooks sociological method has four components: fearless generalizing, clever coinage, jokes and shopping lists.I would have said,
The Brooks sociological method has four components: consuming shit, spewing shit forth, forcing others to eat the regurgitated shit, and tossing Satan's salad for him.Similarly, Kinsley writes:
In his new book, Brooks flings coinage after coinage up against the zeitgeist, hoping that one will stick.However, I would have written:
In his new book, Brooks flings turd after turd after turd at the reading public, hoping that after eating some of the turds the public will lick its lips ruefully and, ashamed of what they've done, thank Brooks for providing them with this "food."Kinsley, in his review, makes some very good points. Like:
''Is he serious?'' is an interesting question about David Brooks. But a more important question, for Brooks himself and for all of humanity (now that he is a Times columnist), is ''Is he conservative?''Pertinent questions, true. But I would have framed them thus:
''Is he a man?'' is an interesting question about David Brooks. But a more important question, for Brooks himself and for all of humanity (now that he is a Times columnist), is ''Why, if David Brooks is not a flesh-eating zombie like the 'infected' in the film '28 Days Later,' does he continually projectile-vomit jets of toxic blood toward his reader-victims, trusting that they'll slurp down some of it, begin to twist and shake spasmodically, thank Jesus and the President, bless America, and then stagger off into the countryside where they will starve to death on the ground unless they can find some more living flesh to sustain them?''Still, Kinsley's review is a decent read.
posted by Blicero : 5/23/2004 03:04:00 PM
