Via Reader E, PZ Myers eviscerates Bobo’s latest atrocity at Salon:
I made it almost a third of the way through the arid wasteland of David Brooks’ didactic novel, “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement,” before I succumbed. I had begun reading it determined to be dispassionate and analytic and fair, but I couldn’t bear it for long: I learned to loathe Harold and Erica, the two upscale avatars of upper-middle-class values that Brooks marches through life in the story. And then I began to resent the omniscient narrator who narrates this exercise in unthinking consumption and privilege that is, supposedly, the ideal of happiness; it’s like watching a creepy middle-aged man fuss over his Barbie and Ken dolls, posing them in their expensive accessories and cars and houses and occasionally wiggling them in simulated carnal relations (have no worries, though: Like Barbie and Ken, no genitals appear anywhere in the book), while periodically pausing to tell his audience how cool it all is, and what is going on inside his dolls’ soft plastic heads.
I did manage to work my way through the whole book, however, by an expediency that I recommend to anyone else who must suffer through it. I simply chanted to myself, “Die, yuppie scum, die,” when I reached the end of each page, and it made the time fly by marvelously well.
The Amazon reviews are a hoot too. The jack ass who heads up the Aspen Institute slobbers all over it, while Publishers’ Weekly trashes it:
Their story lets Brooks mock the affluent and trendy while advancing soft neoconservative themes: that genetically ingrained emotions and biases trump reason; that social problems require cultural remedies (charter schools, not welfare payments); that the class divide is about intelligence, deportment, and taste, not money or power. Brooks is an engaging guide to the “cognitive revolution” in psychology, but what he shows us amounts mainly to restating platitudes. (Women like men with money, we learn, while men like women with breasts.) His attempt to inflate recent research on neural mechanisms into a grand worldview yields little except buzz concepts—”society is a layering of networks”—no more persuasive than the rationalist dogmas he derides.
If you’ve, ahem, read it, you can write a review at Amazon too.
Update. The review at WSJ is well worth reading too.
Uloborus
For some reason, Salon.com won’t show me the entire article, just the ‘before the cut’ part. Boooooo!
Maude
So, Brooks can’t write fiction either, huh?
Dennis N
PZ Myers*
dmsilev
@Maude: I’m pretty sure his op-ed columns, etc. *are* fiction, so the real question is “if David Brooks tried to write non-fiction, would it be any good?”. The answer, of course, is “no”.
dms
General Stuck
Oh yea, right after I burn my apartment down with me in it. Where some idiot will speak at my funeral, He Died from one vacuous experience too many.
Maude
@dmsilev:
Why does this guy get paid to write?
Jim, Once
So, because I love to write offensive, snarky reviews for those books that deserve it, I went to Amazon. All I found were two tepid reviews, giving it a ‘3’. Did Bobo wield his Villager influence to have the others removed?
eemom
David Brooks, you tell me, has published a novel about “upscale avatars of upper-middle-class values.”
And I say to you: irony is dead, sir. Dead. RIP. Kicked the bucket, bought the farm. Skeletal remains from which every ounce of flesh has been consumed. Ashes. Dust.
MonkeyBoy
Those with amazon accounts (or sign up for a new one) can help by adding descriptive tags to Bobo’s book, or voting up existing ones.
At the moment, deadly dull, keeping america stupid, and bourgeois wish fulfillment are among the most popular tags.
And rember, Huck’s book still needs some help with tags.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
I wonder if Sarah, Proud and Tall has read it? pregnant pause
Mark S.
@Maude:
Because he kisses plutocratic ass like no one else.
Napoleon
The picture at Salon gave me a good laugh.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Oh, wait. You can only review the damn thing if you’ve bought it.
Maybe there should be a tip jar up to buy books with the express purpose of having some smartass review them on amazon.
khead
I couldn’t even make it through the review.
That means the book is DOA to me and I will settle for the Doug Hill short(er) version.
hamletta
@Uloborus: Do you not get the “Continue Reading” link?
Salon quit paginating their stories, and uses javascript to present teasers with a link to expand and contract the full article. The whole thing is pre-loaded, so it opens and closes instantly.
arguingwithsignposts
Shorter Bobo: Everybody sucks but me and my rich friends.
Uloborus
@hamletta:
I click on ‘continue reading’ and it opens it… and then closes it instantly! Maybe it just doesn’t like my version of Firefox. Dunno! It’s a shame, because I was looking forward to a bit of snark at the pretentious writing of someone so immature that he thinks he’s figured out the true meaning of humanity by learning a couple of behavioral evolution trends.
JPL
Bobo sure loves him some aspens.
arguingwithsignposts
From WSJ, right *here* is where I stopped reading:
WTF WSJ?
Larkspur
@arguingwithsignposts: Yes, that’s true about the WTF factor in the WSJ, but it’s worth reading the whole thing for the reviewer’s specific criticism.
JCT
@General Stuck: New monitor, please. Damn funny.
And no, I’m not going near this nonsense, I can’t even get through his drivel in the NYT any more without banging my head on the kitchen table.
There’s some deep thoughts right there.
Delia
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):
How can that be? There are entire categories of incredibly whacked out objects that have attracted a whole industry of insane reviews on Amazon. Maybe it’s because the book hasn’t been officially released yet.
arguingwithsignposts
@Larkspur: Sorry, tried again, and there’s waaay too much fluffing in the first part of the review (“Bobos in Paradise” is a “modern classic” of the genre) before he gets down to specific criticisms.
The reviewer claims Brooks is a keen observer of modern society. This is the man who dined at the salad bar at Applebees.
mere mortal
When I read the WSJ article referencing a SNL sketch, I just couldn’t resist.
http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=mesquite%2C+tommyrot&year_start=1850&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3
srv
Y’all know Bobo is on a book tour, so you can hear him emote about it in person. Or you could self-immolate outside while he does.
I’m waiting for the movie version.
Uloborus
@efgoldman:
And he is actually interested at least in anecdotes and random scientific theories. I put it to you: Among conservative punditry this makes him Albert Einstein. Hell, it makes him look at least passable among non-conservative punditry.
The bar he’s risen over was set at ‘howler monkey’.
Dave C
@arguingwithsignposts:
The fact that the review is…generous regarding Brooks’ talents only makes his critiques of the many flaws of the book that much more devastating.
JCT
@efgoldman: I always tease my daughter (student at UChicago) that Bobo’s existence devalues her eventual degree.
arguingwithsignposts
@JCT: BoBo? What about McMegan?
Omnes Omnibus
@Uloborus: One presumes that legal counsel will be retained by howler monkeys to file a defamation suit against you. You should perhaps contact your own attorney.
srv
@efgoldman: He’s dead, so unless she’s a really slow student, not likely. But he has an Institute there. Maybe they have him on display ala Mao.
arguingwithsignposts
@srv:
Or Lenin. Oh, wait.
srv
I wonder if I could hire the Westboro Baptists to follow Newt and Huck around on their future campaigns.
El Cid
I once found a children’s book called “The Story of Capitalism,” as you might expect, an inspiring story of how it had created the modern world and made us all better off.
At the very beginning it said something like, “We follow the story of the Williams family. They are an upper middle class family and we see how each generation grows and prospers from this miraculous economic system.”
This is the David Brooks history of economics: First, postulate that a very well-off family will be the focus, and then stick with them through the centuries.
Clearly that’s the best way to learn the history of Capitalism. From people who are comfortable and wealthy and happy for centuries.
El Cid
@efgoldman: “Westboro Baptist style, yo!”
gbear
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): You can write a review of anything if you have an account, even if you haven’t bought it from Amazon (I checked this out on a book I like. Not going to give Bobo a click).
arguingwithsignposts
@efgoldman:
You know, I keep hearing this every time WBC comes up, but I haven’t actually seen any evidence (suits filed, financial disclosure forms, etc.) anywhere here. Is there a story where this information is available? I’m just curious if this is an urban legend or not.
I’m not defending WBC, but they do seem pretty batshit insane with or without the lawsuit angle.
MonkeyBoy
@MonkeyBoy:
So far deadly dull seems to be leading in the amazon tags on Bobo’s book.
For a giggle, click on “deadly dull” and it takes you to a page that says Help others find the most relevant deadly dull products.
JWL
My first impression of Brooks (on PBS’ NewsHour), was that he is a brown-nosed brown nose.
That was years ago, and nothing has changed.
The NY Times owners are chumps.
priscianus jr
I do think Brooks is right in his observation that you don’t have to be particularly intelligent to be a success in America today. I mean look at Brooks.
Sarah, Proud and Tall
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):
I’m an old woman, dear. I don’t have time to read turgid prose written by monkeys.
I did meet David Brooks once at a party in Chicago. It was in the very early 80s when he was still at university. Ayn Rand had bailed him up in a corner and had stolen his drink. She was in the last stages of terminal cancer at that point, of course, but was still as horrid as ever.
She kept calling him “Davey Davey Pissy Pants” until he actually did wet himself and had to leave.
It goes to show that even hypocritical old harridans with the literary talent of a milk bottle cap can have true insight into people’s character every now and then.
Suffern ACE
@JWL:
.
Rpx
So how long before Megan Mcardle gets a book deal to write a novel about being young and hip and conservative in Washington D.C.?
Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly Known as Chad N Freude
If I didn’t know better, I would say that the WSJ review is satire. It’s really funny, presumably unintentionally.
ETA: Unless, of course, Jonathan Swift has taken a job at the Journal.
Valdivia
@Sarah, Proud and Tall:
Clap, clap, clap.
You are a master madam.
Please keep it up, am enjoying your forays inmensely.
JCT
@arguingwithsignposts: Oh no — that nitwit graduated from their business school, a world unto itself.
@efgoldman: I think she takes it as a badge of honor that she will graduate without every having taken econ. I am not too thrilled by this but she says it is rather cult-like there.
Hmmmm, UChicago and the Westboro band of hate? We got that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZfZiBRFM5w
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: Indeed, I’ve received an inquiry. The howler monkeys are not amused.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Valdivia: Oh, I agree. SPaT is rather like the above average child of Miss Manners and Erma Bombeck, with Philip Roth as the male chromosome component donor. ;)
aimai
@JCT:
I believe this was stated more clearly by Xander in BTVS
“Yes, Men eat of the beef and like to look at the bosooms.”
aimai
Valdivia
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
:D
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
2011 and I still haven’t figured Amazon out.
Amazons were also proud and tall, I’m given to understand.
Elia
When you consider it’s in the WSJ–and that the guy bends over backwards in the first few paragraphs to establish his “objectivity” by pointing out all of the things Bobo, supposedly does well–the review is really pretty brutal.
Mark S.
@Sarah, Proud and Tall:
You’ve met a lot of people in your extraordinary life! This song goes out to you:
Oh, I’ve been to Nice and the isle of Greece
when I sipped champagne on a yacht
I moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo
and showed them what I’ve got
I’ve been undressed by kings
and I’ve seen some things that a woman ain’t suppose to see
I’ve been to paradise but I’ve never been to me
I hope you’ve been to you, Sarah.
Reader of the Most Depressing Blog Evah, Formerly Known as Chad N Freude
Go look at the Q&A with Brooks at The New Yorker. It’s long, and I just skipped around picking stuff at random, but Brooks is clearly an absolute shoo-in for this year’s Narcissistic Condescension Award. And the Condescending Narcissism Award also too.
eemom
@Mark S.:
oh my fucking God. I could happily have lived the rest of my life without ever being reminded of that……”song.”
Spit. spit. spit.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
Le coup de grâce.
gocart mozart
Well, thank God for that!
Fuzz
There is no pundit that bothers me as much as Brooks. Friedman may seem to be naive and downright dumb at times, but he at least makes an effort to go out and see the world. In the 80s his reporting from Lebanon was actually really excellent. Nick Kristof can seem like a smug asshole at times but he does a lot to at least try to make the world better and raise awareness of issues he considers important like Darfur and to an extent the Congo as well.
Brooks, sitting on one of the most important positions in all of journalism and with access to millions, decides to devote his career to talking about how awesome rich people who live in the burbs and send their children to private schools are. Not just that they’re lucky or well educated or whatever, but that they are quite literally better people than you. Smarter, harder working, more well rounded, etc. They know what’s best for you, even if you are too stupid, or too busy working your sorry ass to death just to stay poor and not become homeless, to realize it.
Rather than take his influence and attempt to do something good (or just something, anything) he basically takes the conversations had between he and his rich friends and publishes them for millions. He fights his rhetorical battles to defend greedy, selfish assholes and to maintain the status quo.
Svensker
Happiness is mine.
Uloborus
@eemom:
…good lord. I just tried to listen to it. Is there ANY point of view from which that song isn’t condescending and offensive?
asiangrrlMN
@Mark S.: I have never heard that song before. You suck. At least I was quick enough to close the window after the first sentence.
Brooks is an idiot. The fact that he is being paid money to write this tripe on top of the tripe he writes for the NYT makes me quite discouraged as a writer.
Doug Hill
@Fuzz:
Me neither. Most of the others don’t bother me at all, they just make me laugh.
Triassic Sands
So, Brooks has written something else I won’t bother to read. Yawn.
Svensker
@Mark S.:
Fabulous song. I lost brain cells and my hair flipped. Thanks.
Mark S.
@asiangrrlMN:
I don’t think I’ve ever listened to the whole thing. Most crappy songs that were hits have a hook or something that you can understand why they might have been popular once, but that song is just blah.
McMegan bugs me a lot more than Bobo. Probably all of the lying.
WaterGirl
@Fuzz: @Doug Hill: Two words: Maureen Dowd
Bill Murray
@Fuzz:
Plus they’ve got a really cool tattoo. of course, that one is probably just for me as probably nobody else has heard of The Young Adults and their song “When your girlfriend goes to college”
and to get rid of that Never Been to Me feeling, here is a Playmobil Stop Motion video for Transmission by Joy Division redoing their big Something Else appearance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UQmY57qrfw&feature=fvst
David Brooks (not that one)
@Triassic Sands:
I really don’t know why I bother. MitchDanielsMitchDaniels.
Scamp Dog
@asiangrrlMN: You’re lucky, I lived through the time when the song was popular on the radio. FSM help us if it ever makes a comeback.
Fallsroad
In PZ’s post at his place pimping the Salon review he gives us some hope:
Keep hope alive!
Mark S.
test
ETA: FYWP.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Uloborus: Huh. I have the same problem with the Salon article.
Danny
I would just like to point out that the only reason David Brooks is famous is that he gave William F. Buckley a big sloppy blow job and then called it satire. Brooks then wrote a book that used made up observations and bullshit science to confirm all the stereotypes yuppie idiots seem to find so comforting (no not The Bell Curve, a different book).
Odie Hugh Manatee
Bobo is the American version of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, just not as funny. His book sounds the same; crappy script, crappy characters and a crappy plot that only someone in love with their own voice would love.
Why does Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo like tongue-bathing the balls of the wealthy and well off?
Because it pays.
Jamey
(emphasis mine)
See: Salad bar; Applebees
I know Brooks is a sure-fire bestseller, but, honestly, who reads this shit?
bob h
I would wish Brooks so much success with book writing that he decides to give up his gigs on the NYT, PBS, and NPR, and concentrate on it full time.
RSA
My god. The Amazon page includes a letter from Brooks:
“I try to answer what it all means”? Don’t quit your (very lucrative) day job.
More seriously, I’m writing a book right now about my field, aimed at lay readers, and one of the lessons I’ve learned already is how difficult it is to faithfully translate basic concepts and findings into practical everyday settings. I wouldn’t dream of saying that I’m trying to answer what it all means. (Maybe Brooks is enough of a genius to understand all the implications of brain science, based on his background knowledge of history and politics, but I kinda doubt it.)
matoko_chan
I would rather have lit bamboo slivers put into my nailbeds that read that book but I suspect he is just cherrypicking science like all glibertarian grifters do.
I’m going to go see if he even mentions Social Brain Hypothesis, Evolutionary Theory of Culture, Evolutionary Games Theory or Cognitive Anthropology.
I bet he doesn’t.
We say Social Brain Hypothesis because there isnt even enough data for theory yet.
Mr Furious
It’s probably the fact that she’s got most of her career left to inflict on us, and a fortune yet to be made.
With a guy like Brooks it’s easy to mislead yourself that he must have done something to earn is way into success at some point, while with McMegan, the rise of her vapid, dishonest garbage this early in her career slaps you in the face with the fact that she doesnt deserve a thing she’ll ever be handed.
matoko_chan
What I detest about glibertarian grifters like Brooks, EDK, Douthat, McMegan, Friedersdorf, Suderman, Millman, and Jacobs is how they try to cherrypick and twist science to support their “narrative”.
Like EDK trying to suborn Heckman’s paper to support free market solutions for education reform.
Science can’t be shaped.
matoko_chan
And its a sure bet Brooks doesnt mention Evolutionary Theory of Religion.
/spit
El Cid
@Mr Furious: McAddled is more annoying than Brooks but with her, at least, I only encounter her nonsense here.
Brooks, at least, doesn’t act like he himself is an expert in a technical field. He’s perfectly happy sounding like a sage chronicler of what his selected sources have determined, and he’s there to give the bones all their muscles and flesh.
McAddled really is turned to as an expert commentator on economic affairs. And it’s pretty easy to see how her social peer group connections matter not only for how she got the positions she has, but why she’s taken seriously on them.
And makes specific claims, even of fact, that are bullshit.
Brooks is most annoying because of his prominence and comfortable acceptance by so many liberals, and if he just had a non-syndicated column in a smaller paper somewhere to give his vapid, pseudo-sociological rants on how awesome the noble rich are, no one would give a damn.
Uloborus
@matoko_chan:
…holy hellfire. Pot, meet kettle.
Mr Furious
El Cid, I should have started out with “also” instead of “probably” because in no way did I intend to sound like I was disagreeing or trying to clarify your point, but rather, pile on the reasons she sucks and is annoying…
Also, too.
Tehanu
@Sarah, Proud and Tall:
I am so stealing this for future use. Thanks for it, Sarah, and for being a Sarah I don’t have to hate!
priscianus jr
@WaterGirl: