How do you respond when people call you ostentatious, ego-ridden and a greedy symbol of the Eighties?Rich men are less likely to like me, but the working man likes me because he knows I worked hard and didn't inherit what I've built. Hey, I made it myself; I have a right to do what I want with it.
With so much poverty on the city streets, isn't it embarrassing for you to flaunt your wealth?
There has always been a display of wealth and always will be, until the depression comes, which it always does. And let me tell you, a display is a good thing. It shows people that you can be successful. It can show you a way of life. Dynasty did it on TV. It's very important that people aspire to be successful. The only way you can do it is if you look at somebody who is.
A display is a good thing.
ADDED: I asked for the origin of the adjectival phrase "the thinking man's," and I'll just give you a glimpse of what Grok said: "A 1947 Billboard review dubs jazzman Charlie Parker 'the thinking man’s saxophonist,' praising his complex improvisations.... Earlier still, a 1941 Time magazine piece on baseball’s Lefty Grove calls him 'the thinking man’s pitcher,' suggesting strategic brilliance over brute force. These are among the earliest clear uses in popular print, though niche or oral precedents might predate them. Could it go back further? Possibly. Victorian-era Britain loved labeling things for 'the thinking classes'—e.g., an 1860s Spectator piece on 'thinking men' in politics—but the possessive 'thinking man’s' as a direct adjective is elusive before the 20th century. Playboy later amplified it (their 1956 'thinking man’s magazine' claim), but they were riffing on an established vibe. Without exhaustive archives, 1941’s 'thinking man’s pitcher' stands as a strong contender for the oldest verifiable use in this form. Why this timing? Post-WWI culture prized intellect amid disillusionment—thinkers like Freud or Einstein shaped a world where 'thinking' signaled depth. The phrase became a badge of honor, a marketing trick, a cultural flex."
I said: "I only wanted 'thinking man's' as an adjective phrase, but it is interesting to look at usages of 'man,' the noun, modified by 'thinking.' All men think (unless they are unconscious), so it's a way to express snobbery, similar to expressions that describe human individuals as 'dead' or 'zombies.' I was just re-watching my favorite move, 'My Dinner With Andre,' and it had a lot of talk about other people as not really alive at all, but zombies or robots."
I won't give you more of My Late Morning Snack With Grok, other than to say that Grok stood ready to talk about MDWA: "André Gregory’s monologue about New Yorkers as 'robots performing their daily rituals' or 'zombies' isn’t... just lamenting conformity; he’s casting most people as unthinking husks, sleepwalking through life. Wally Shawn pushes back, but André’s vision aligns with that 'thinking man’s' snobbery: there’s us, awake and grappling with meaning, and them, the living dead. The film itself could be 'the thinking man’s drama'—no explosions, just two guys talking about consciousness over quail, demanding an audience that’s alert, not zoned out."
If you know me, you'd be able to predict that my next prompt was: "Discuss 'quail,' the noun, in relation to 'quail,' the verb."
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27 comments:
There's an old story of a lady saying to Adlai Stevenson that he was the thinking man's candidate, and Adlai replied "But I need a majority."
That's because Stevenson may have been smart, but he wasn't next level smart.
Which gets me to thinking about how different the 1970s would’ve been had the Grateful Dead released Thinkingman’s Dead instead.
Just about every man thinks, and just about every man whacks off, and just about every man thinks while whacking off, so make of that what you will.
You can think all you want when dealing with women but you will still be wrong.
"(apparently, you need to think to deal with women)" True. Depends on the meaning of "think." And "you."
A brain surgeons' guide to rocket science
More like the drinking man's President.
Playboy never specified which organ the Thinking Man was thinking with.
The Brits took the phrase and ran with it. "The Thinking Man's Crumpet" is a newspaper phrase that has been applied to Helen Mirren, Felicity Kendall, Joanna Lumley, Gillian Anderson, Nigella Lawson and others. Likewise, Benedict Cumberbatch, Colin Firth and Bill Nighy have been described as the "Thinking Woman's Crumpet," though they may also be some Englishmen's cup of tea nowadays (as the "Thinking Man's Crumpet" has appeal to some women). There's something smug and self-aggrandizing about the phrase: I think, others don't, and you are just a dessert for me. Titanic star Kate Winslett has been described as "the sinking man's crumpet."
When I say Trump is not a thinking man, it is a compliment. He is a man of action who uses his instincts based on his experience. Only an idiot would think that Donald Trump ponders much of anything at all. Again these are all compliments. His basic approach is ready fire aim. I looked it up just for fun and it's a title to a book on how to become an entrepreneurial millionaire after investing only $100 so it must be a tried and true approach to success in this world.
Howard said:
"Only an idiot would think that Donald Trump ponders much of anything at all."
More mind reading from the peanut gallery.
"Adlai replied 'But I need a majority.'"
Hence the designated hitter rule.
As for Trump not pondering stuff, look at DOGE and how it gutted USAID, which was the head of the snake of the resistance to Trump. He decapitated it and now people are wondering why nobody is "taking to the streets" to protest Trump. Well nobody is paying them to, which is what had happened in the past.
I think that Trump, Orbán, and Musk worked out this spoiling attack on the deep state at Mar a Lago after the election. Or maybe Howard is right, Trump just keeps getting lucky, time and time again.
So we’ve transitioned from the Deadhead Dementia Joe to Thinking Man/Dealmaker Trump.
Maybe just in time…
Trump is the "thinking man's president" only if the "thinking man" is an imbecile or insane.
"Howard said:
'Only an idiot would think that Donald Trump ponders much of anything at all.'
"More mind reading from the peanut gallery."
It doesn't take a mind reader to see that Trump is a crude imbecile, bankrupt of any capacity to ponder or reflect or think. He is purely a predatory creature. That so many Americans admire and even revere him is a condemnation of whatever it is in our nation (poor education, toxic jingoism, etc.) that makes so many of our citizens into the mindless brutes they are.
The thing about Dunning Kruger is that people often don't know on which side of the line that they fall.
Cookie demonstrates the inevitable reality of projection. Thanks, big guy!
Blue Öyster Cult was once described as The Thinking Man's Heavy Metal
...Stevenson may have been smart, but he wasn't next level smart.
Missed it by that much.
Its amazing how "The thinking man's guide" in Google defaults to porn. I did get "The thinking man's guide to Pro Football" but that was over 40 years old.
"I'd asked Meade (and Grok)". Let me guess. In that order.
Some time after we started our online magazine about standup comedy, one of goals was to fight against the "jazzification of standup." We saw parallels between what was done to jazz and what the entertainment press was trying to do to standup-- turn it into something that "transcended" mere jokes. The implication was clear-- standup, in its current form, was crass, crude and unworthy of our attention, unless... Unless we shame the practitioners of standup to up their game and turn it into a "thinking man's art form." Standup in the 80s was, similar to jazz in the 30s and 40s, a good time, appealed to multiple cultures and classes, was consumed by multiracial crowds. Jazz fans didn't sit still, quietly nodding, in a smoky basement club "appreciating the complex improvisations" of this musician or that. They flocked to clubs that encouraged sweaty, mindless, energetic dancing, socializing, drinking and eating. The last thing anyone wanted to do was think. The press, it seemed was determined it seems, even back as far as 1947, to turn it into some sort of chess game that was sedate and boring, but ..."edifying." They tried to do that to comedy, but thank the good Lord, they failed.
Brian McKim and/or Traci Skene--Your point is a good one.
Listening to Joe Rogan talk to his comedian bros about comedy is stupefyingly boring. Comics need to Shut Up and Tell Jokes!
Cook: ‘Trump is the "thinking man's president" only if the "thinking man" is an imbecile or insane.’ Remember when Cook used to pretend to be a rational human being? Some of us didn’t buy it then. None of us buy it now.
French philospher and author Henri Bergson defined Intuition as:
"The direct, immediate understanding that grasps the whole of reality, contrasted with intellectual analysis"
Trump seems to embody that quality, justifying post-hoc the reasoning behind his moves in keeping with Bergson's counsel to:
"Think like a Man of Action. Act like a Man of Thought."
Yeah, he often does so clumsily, but the man gets results.
(Meanwhile, Cook and Freder sit in front of their PC's snapping their onions in rage, frustration and ---most of all---envy.)
... apparently, you need to think to deal with women ...
Friedrich Nietzsche was a thinking man par excellence and he recommended using a whip, but then he was no great success with the ladies.
Cookie, just imagine, if you can, Joe Biden doing business (having meetings, enacting Executive Orders, working with the cabinet), answering questions about multiple subjects, in depth, from the press and addressing the public, all at once and without teleprompter. AND, without an aide declaring, "That's all, folks." after 30 seconds and guiding Joe off-stage.
Can't do it, can you?
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