Writes Maureen Corrigan, NPR's "Fresh Air" book critic, in "Lionel Shriver pokes fun at woke culture, again/The controversial writer’s new novel, ‘Mania,’ is a funny and occasionally offensive satire of groupthink" (WaPo).
"The chief target of the novel is the bedrock tension in America between the unfulfilled promise of egalitarian democracy and the reverence for the profitable 'practical' knowledge of, say, a Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs along with the kind of anti-intellectualism that historian Richard Hofstadter identified in his 1964 Pulitzer Prize winner 'Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.' In Shriver’s hectically escalating narrative, the Mental Parity movement is taken to its absurdist outer limits when Wade, an arborist, is injured on the job. Hospital surgeries have become more fraught since anyone can attend medical school where, presumably, they can graduate without taking any exams...."
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49 comments:
So, our DEI future.
"Idiocracy" called it...
If society is so different, why do we have the same presidents? Nobody new thrived under this new regime?
Barrack Obama never struck me as very smart, and the fact that he let his foreign policy be hijacked by a guy who flunked third grade and so internalized that his best bet in life was to be a bully, doesn't suggest that he ever was very smart.
The Democrats are so brilliant that we are on course to be paying more in interest by the end of the year than we pay out in Social Security, this is going to work out great!
"The chief target of the novel is the bedrock tension in America between the unfulfilled promise of egalitarian democracy and the reverence for the profitable 'practical' knowledge of, say, a Thomas Edison or Steve Jobs along with the kind of anti-intellectualism that historian Richard Hofstadter identified in his 1964 Pulitzer Prize winner 'Anti-Intellectualism in American Life."
It is the intellectuals that push the destruction of the merit based society for the feelings based post-modernism and selection by tribal affiliation.
Of course the intellectual tribe is selected for the highest status positions. They create for themselves these positions. HR managers. Government Bureaucrats. University administrators.
Professors of Women's studies. Regime Journalists Politicians. Lawyers. None of these people actually make or do anything anyone else wants.
Of course anyone who objects to this is part of 'Anti-Intellectualism in American Life.' They pretend that Trump is uneducated and not as smart as them despite his life time of actual achievement.
Hospital surgeries have become more fraught since anyone can attend medical school where, presumably, they can graduate without taking any exams...."
This is happening right now. But it is happening because the intellectuals have pushed DEI into health care and they have removed merit from the training of Doctors.
But NPR is a pathetic organization full of worthless intellectuals and the snootyist of mediocrity our country has to offer.
Camacho for President.
"I am runnin' for president some mor'... in 20-24!"
"the Democratic Party seizes on Donald Trump as their 'shoo-in' candidate for, among myriad other reasons, the fact that 'he never reads.'...."
Unlike the famously literate Barry Obama who "wrote" two books about himself but I don't believe it was affirmed by the press if he ever actually read a book, and the famously literate notably Catholic Joe Biden who has been in DC for over 50 years and has never been known to read a book or even been seen in the same room with a book, President Donald J Trump is known to be a voracious reader, close to a book a day. There was an interview on the campaign trail I remember from 2016 when some democrat party operative with a press badge asked Trump if he ever read anything about China, Trump rattled off ten books he'd read in the last year about China. Now I just tried to google that interview and spent fifteen minutes combing through pages of DNC propaganda from NBCCBSMSNBCABCLATIMESWAPOetc exclaiming how TRUMP NEVER READS!!1!111!!!!! Big Brother at work.
I interpret “unfulfilled promise of egalitarian democracy” to mean “those God-damned proles have stopped voting the way we want them to vote.”
Achilles
It is the intellectuals that push the destruction of the merit based society for the feelings based post-modernism and selection by tribal affiliation.
That is a nicely crafted sentence.
“The Democrats are so brilliant that we are on course to be paying more in interest by the end of the year than we pay out in Social Security, this is going to work out great!”
And since we are increasing spending by 1 trillion dollars every 100 days, according to Krugman and Polosi there is a 2 times Kensian economic multiplier so the GDP will increase by 9 trillion by this year year. 3 trillion because government spending is counted, plus the 6 trillion in the multiplier claimed by Kensians. But actually 11 trillion because the year has 365 days, we are rich, man.
Every time I read Lionel Shriver, I wind up bobbing my head up and down in agreement. I then usually burst out in bitter laughter at the folly of mankind she has just described. It is a lovely thing to have someone out there writing the things you think and see, and so well.
Love that woman. She's had her eye on our destination for a long time. Every word is a warning. Not that we have any hope of delivery from our fate.
President Donald J Trump is known to be a voracious reader, close to a book a day. There was an interview on the campaign trail I remember from 2016 when some democrat party operative with a press badge asked Trump if he ever read anything about China, Trump rattled off ten books he'd read in the last year about China.
Can you provide a link? Everything I have ever seen, heard or read, says that Donald Trump hates to read, and briefing papers had to be kept as short as possible (not anything over a page, and lots of charts and graphs). Here is one of the myriad articles about his dislike of reading. (See how easy it is to provide a link if you are not getting your info from the monkeys flying out of your ass).
It is amazing that Althouse, even though she claims to moderate comments, lets so many of you state outright fantasies as true.
Trump's Twenty Best China Books
https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/top-of-the-ticket/story/2011-05-03/opinion-donald-trump-has-read-a-lot-of-books-on-china-i-understand-the-chinese-mind
Big Brother at work.
Or you are just making shit up. Do you really think that anyone or entity has that much control over the internet that it completely deletes any reference to what you believe is true?
This is happening right now. But it is happening because the intellectuals have pushed DEI into health care and they have removed merit from the training of Doctors.
So doctors no longer have exams during Med School, don't have to take licensing exams or even the MCAT to get into Med School? First I have heard of this. Maybe we should check with Michael K. Even his cynical view of modern medical training and the current crop of medical students doesn't go that far.
The Democrats are so brilliant that we are on course to be paying more in interest by the end of the year than we pay out in Social Security, this is going to work out great!
I'm not sure what you mean by this statement, please explain.
This is certainly a fact free thread.
Michael Fitzgerald
"googling" is the problem
I asked Duckduckgo.com "ten books trump has read on China" and this was the 2nd result
https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/top-of-the-ticket/story/2011-05-03/opinion-donald-trump-has-read-a-lot-of-books-on-china-i-understand-the-chinese-mind
1st result was a goodreads post about the lat article. With link
DO NOT use Google. It doesn't give better results than ddg. I use Google as a last resort on occasion when I can't find something on ddg. I've never found anything on Google when ddgcame up dry.
John Henry
Yeah, just like Boeing has issues with quality control and assurance because of DEI, not because upper management (which even in these days of DEI is predominantly white guys with four women out of the 18 in Senior leadership roles) prioritized profits over safety.
Freder, you’re responding a lot but you haven’t responded to Wince who responded to you. That says a lot.
Freder is ignorant about what matters film at 11
Democracy is a governing system of majority privilege... rule. There is a reason why America was founded as a representative republic with a constitution that affirms individual rights and mitigates authoritarian progress.
'It is amazing that Althouse, even though she claims to moderate comments, lets so many of you state outright fantasies as true.'
We need fact checkers. Anything not approved by the almighty state should be censored, and the writer jailed and then re-educated.
This is the only way...
"Freder, you’re responding a lot but you haven’t responded to Wince who responded to you. That says a lot."
Trump listing 20 books about China "off the top of his head" that he clais to have read does not prove he read any of those books. How do we know he actually recited them from memory?
I would have to have irrefutable evidence before believing Trump had read a book, any book.
See how easy it is to provide a link if you are not getting your info from the monkeys flying out of your ass).
Given the choice between The Atlantic and monkeys flying out of my ass, I'll choose the latter.
pretty confident, that "the so-called last acceptable bias" is one of these:
white people
white men
christian white men
non-college educated christian white men
am i missing any?
I have no idea how many books Trump reads, nor do I care. I also have no idea how many books Biden reads, or Harris reads, nor do I care. I DO CARE whether they seem to understand the challenges the US faces, and have ideas about how to deal with them. On that basis there's no doubt that Trump is way ahead on points. But that's against VERY WEAK competition. Biden's "policy" over three years seems to be: undo whatever Trump did. Do you like the way that's working?
Of course, we voters can be fooled so easily. Remember when "they" told us Reagan was a fool, a third-rate movie actor, etc. And then he got elected, fixed the US economy, and ended the Cold War HIS WAY, by defeating the USSR.
Diana Moon Glampers, call for you on line 3.
I hadn't heard of Lionel Shriver before, but now that I've read her Wiki I can see she leads an interesting and peripatetic and multi-faceted life. She's writing for The Spectator at present, and here is one of her recent stories - on Immigration:
https://archive.ph/ZBglX
I might have to try one of her novels.
"The Year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal. They weren't only equal
before God and the law. They were equal every which way. Nobody was smarter
than anybody else. Nobody was better looking than anybody else. Nobody was
stronger or quicker than anybody else. All this equality was due to the
211th, 212th, and 213th Amendments to the Constitution, and to the unceasing
vigilance of agents of the United States Handicapper General."
Rrom Kurt Vonnegut's short story "Harrison Bergeron" (1961)
https://www.tnellen.com/westside/harrison.pdf
Thank you to Wince and John Henry for backing up the monkeys that flew out of my ass. Your move, Fredor- After you've read the article, of course.
Freder Frederson said... Everything I have ever seen, heard or read, says that Donald Trump hates to read, and briefing papers had to be kept as short as possible (not anything over a page, and lots of charts and graphs). Here is one of the myriad articles about his dislike of reading....
4/7/24, 2:16 PM
Yes Fredor, we know that everything you read says that Donald Trump is an orange tub of goo, and to prove it you give a link to a democrat party propaganda organization that proves it by also saying so. And the fact that the Deep State search engine google could find no links to the article about Trump the hard-working man who reads a lot, but the non-approved search engine found it in two seconds just proves that Big Brother does not exist, obviously!
Drink your soma, Fredor, and go back to sleep. Big Brother is watching out for you.
Freder Frederson said...
"It is amazing that Althouse, even though she claims to moderate comments, lets so many of you state outright fantasies as true."
***********
You've been busted here so many times for your inanity that it's really rich (and no, I'm not talking about your doppelganger Rich) to see you demand Althouse "moderate' comments according to YOUR standards.
S N O R T
If you had a shred of intellectual integrity you would acknowledge Wince's citation.
STAND AND DELIVER
Robert Cook said...
"Trump listing 20 books about China "off the top of his head" that he claims to have read does not prove he read any of those books. How do we know he actually recited them from memory?
I would have to have irrefutable evidence before believing Trump had read a book, any book.
*****************
So you've unilaterally moved the goalposts from: provide a citation offering evidence Trump has read numerous books about China, to an utterly STUPID test, one that completly ignores the guy has an MBA.
If he got that w/o reading a book, then (as Kahn used to say on "King of the Hill", his ass is GENIUS! In any case, who are YOU to impose such a test??????????
As you will be reminded tomorrow, the sun does not shine from your fundament.
'I would have to have irrefutable evidence before believing Trump had read a book, any book.'
Just like Joe and Doofus wouldn't take the jab because it was from Trump and it must be crap.
Then they stole an election and things changed...
The vaccine was indeed crap, and Joe and Doofus should have kept to their original course.
Dimwit.
"Everything I have ever seen, heard or read..."
Freder prefers a echo chamber. Freder gets his news and opinions from the Reddit front page.
Robert Cook said...
"Freder, you’re responding a lot but you haven’t responded to Wince who responded to you. That says a lot."
Trump listing 20 books about China "off the top of his head" that he clais to have read does not prove he read any of those books. How do we know he actually recited them from memory?
I would have to have irrefutable evidence before believing Trump had read a book, any book.
It is hilarious that someone as obviously limited as Cook thinks he is smarter than Trump.
You are at best average Cook. Trump is far more intelligent than you are and has accomplished infinitely more of value than you have.
Freder Frederson said...
So doctors no longer have exams during Med School, don't have to take licensing exams or even the MCAT to get into Med School? First I have heard of this. Maybe we should check with Michael K. Even his cynical view of modern medical training and the current crop of medical students doesn't go that far.
How is the cholesterol hypothesis working out Freder?
Did you take your COVID "vaccine" yet today? Better get your mask on or COVID will get you.
And remember that COVID will spread in any group of people except those protesting for BLM. Over 1000 doctors said that protesting against racism gives you special protection from COVID.
I know you are too stupid to actually think for yourself. We are just having some fun with you right now.
Everything I have ever seen, heard or read, says that Donald Trump hates to read...
Maybe it's because all of your source material is shit. Ever think of that?
First year med students forced to listen to hamas supporters lecture about housing injustice.
"First-year medical students at UCLA were mandated to attend a lecture by Lisa “Tiny” Gray-Garcia, a supporter of Hamas, who criticized modern medicine as "white science" and urged them to worship "mama Earth", according to a new report from the New York Post."
I would be unlikely to choose a doctor that graduated from UCLA hearing things like this.
Lionel Shriver is one of my favorite novelists. Her political commentary is always acute. In a just world, Maureen Dowd would be a hoarder cat lady, and the NYT would be featuring Shriver's columns.
If you catch yourself making statements like "Trump has never read a book", "Obama has never read a book", "Biden has never read a book" you probably need to read a book.
Freder, you’re responding a lot but you haven’t responded to Wince who responded to you. That says a lot.
Yeah, it means I have better things to do than watch this blog all day. My last series of posts were published in the same group as Wince's response to an earlier post. Only now am I reading the rest of the thread.
So, despite your snark, I will ask if you even read the link Wince provided? I think it was meant to be satire. And note the date it was published, May 13, 2011, long before the incident Michael Fitzgerald claims he remembers.
So Wince is spreading unverified bullshit.
one that completly ignores the guy has an MBA.
I don't consider an MBA to be proof that someone is some kind of genius. And anyway, Trump doesn't have an MBA, just a bachelors in economics.
Another fantastical lie.
"As you will be reminded tomorrow, the sun does not shine from your fundament."
I'm stealing this.
Brawndo! I't got what plants crave!
Freder said, "
"Can you provide a link? Everything I have ever seen, heard or read, says that Donald Trump hates to read, and briefing papers had to be kept as short as possible (not anything over a page,"
And then Wince replied with a link. Something you always ask for.
Which you reject as being an old article. which never the less proves your assertion wrong
You're an intellectual coward Freder.
You won't debate because you can't debate.
Provide proof other than, "Yeah, I read it in the Atlantic so it has to be true."
Which you reject as being an old article. which never the less proves your assertion wrong
Well no, it doesn't. Michael Fitzgerald made a claim that during the 2016 campaign some smart-ass "democrat party operative" asked Trump what books he read about China, and he rattled off ten from the top of his head. Of course he couldn't provide a link, because Big Brother had put it in the memory hole.
Wince came back and cited a La Times op ed from 2011 (five years before the incident Michael "recalled") that said Trump had claimed he had read twenty books on China. Read the op ed carefully. It seems to be mostly mocking Sarah Palin, and I think he meant it to be satire (granted, not very good satire), but nothing in the article actually backs up Michael's recollection.
What I wrote: "President Donald J Trump is known to be a voracious reader, close to a book a day. There was an interview on the campaign trail I remember from 2016 when some democrat party operative with a press badge asked Trump if he ever read anything about China, Trump rattled off ten books he'd read in the last year about China."
Fredor Frederson writes: Can you provide a link?
Wince provides a link to an LA Times journolisters listicle cribbed from a Chinese news story reporting that Donald Trump named 20! books on China off the top of his head. And here is the braindead Party member's response:
"nothing in the article actually backs up Michael's recollection."
These Party members, there is no persuading them. No reasoning with them. They just refuse to acknowledge the information. That one says 'I don't believe it', this one just shrugs and shakes his head no. The point stands: Donald Trump is a fat orange tub of goo who sits around watching the Gorilla Channel and he's never read a book ever, so there!
It gets more than a bit wearisome to hear and read screeds against "intellectuals". The word no longer seems to mean what it clearly means: someone with higher than average intellectual capacity and/or acuity. Unfortunately, it has gained the connotation of "someone with advanced education" or "someone with high IQ but no common sense".
Common sense and intellectual capacity are not mutually exclusive. However, of the two, common sense is far more valuable (with the exception of certain highly technical areas of endeavor). And thankfully, there are still multitudes of people with both, though they tend not be of the personality type that whores for attention.
They just refuse to acknowledge the information.
What information? Wince's link was from 2011. You, Ann, and Wince still haven't provided a shred of information to back up your original claim of him rattling off 10 titles in 2016.
I only know LS's name; have never read any of her books. Amy Welborn posted today about Mania and so I came back to re-read this post since (given my first sentence) I hadn't done more than skim Sunday. Is there a magic way to erase all the comments preoccupied with Mr Trump? I confess that I used to smile when AA fussed about people introducing nonsense not relevant to the OP.
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