David Brooks Wins the Mediocre White Man Weekly Prize

There are so many nasty things I could legitimately say about David Brooks, a NYT “opinion” writer and TV pontificator who has used his status as a quintessential mediocre white man to annoy me every Friday night when he is asked to comment on the week’s news on NewsHour, our public broadcasting show. Brooks has honed his qualities to a dull blandness. He is banal. He is conservative. He states things others have been saying for years as if he has just invented the color beige. He asserts his backwards views without bothering with facts and figures.

This year he has been declaring in his arrogant and errant way, week in and week out, that voting restrictions are not a particular problem as anyone in the US who wants to vote can vote. Is he just dumb or simply the slimebag he appears to be? One critic wonders if he is “deliberately deceptive or recklessly ignorant.” Brooks’ politics suck: he opposes the legalization of marijuana, considers The Squad loonies, and deems the Right “wholesome.”

Of the many profiles on Wikipedia that I’ve seen over the years, Brooks’ is the first in which the classic sections – Political Views and Social Views – are followed by a big fat section of Criticisms!

I thought I couldn’t find him more distasteful than I always have until last week when he Zoomed into NewsHour with his bookcases behind him. Although it's hard to underestimate this fool, I was shocked. He has organized them by color! Nuff said.

Comments

[Tracy M Moore]

great scree!

i might edit only thus: in his arrogant and errant way, weak in and weak out

keep 'em comin'!
trace

[Anne Charles]

Great post. Thanks for writing it. I have followed him for years too and you’re right, he was never right but he’s getting more and more wrong.