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You are here: Home / Make it a habit!

Make it a habit!

by DougJ|  October 23, 20114:25 pm| 38 Comments

This post is in: Our Failed Media Experiment

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Andrew Gelman has another solid take down of Gregg Easterbook’s political column, but says “I don’t want to make a habit of this”. He also notes, sadly, that the Washington Monthly is reposting all of Easterbrook’s political columns (Easterbrook has some affiliation with Washington Monthly).

I believe that when the autopsy of our civilization is completed, the prominence of charlatans like Easterbrook will be seen as one of the causes of death. So if you have a sec, pop over to Gelman’s comments and tell him to make it a habit and the email someone at Washington Monthly and tell them to end their affiliation with Easterbrook.

Update. Yes, this is apropos of Tom’s earlier Easterbrook take down. I’d like someone to engage in a real-time, piece-by-piece takedown of Easterbrook’s work in addition to excellent retrospectives like Tom’s.

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Reader Interactions

38Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    October 23, 2011 at 4:36 pm

    you might want to read this smack down also
    https://balloon-juice.com/2011/10/22/who-is-the-worst-science-writer-gregg-easterbrook-who-is-second-ah-your-majesty-there-is-no-second/

  2. 2.

    The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik

    October 23, 2011 at 4:43 pm

    Meanwhile, we have the Wall Street Journal’s heart-wrenching account of the plight of the 1% (shocking, I know). Money quote:

    Recently, the family boarded a commercial flight for a vacation, making for some confusion. One of the kids looked around the crowded cabin and asked, “Mom, what are all these strangers doing on our plane?”

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 23, 2011 at 4:47 pm

    As long as we’re talking about charlatans, let’s give a big “stupid fucktard” for the vile piece of work that is John Stoessel.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    October 23, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik: Now there’s a bunch of children just begging for a whole raft of scam artists to fleece them of just about everything.

  5. 5.

    Villago Delenda Est

    October 23, 2011 at 4:48 pm

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik:

    That kid is looking to get himself a gig as a son of Qaddafi.

  6. 6.

    JPL

    October 23, 2011 at 4:50 pm

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik: I’m not going to write a comment but I thought this was interesting

    Its sad when so many comments on an article in the WSJ are loaded with bitterness and envy. I thought we were supposed to be above that…

    If I were to write a comment, it would be I’m not envious..

  7. 7.

    Marc

    October 23, 2011 at 4:51 pm

    Wait… you’re praising a piece that buys into the whole “Scott Brown is a moderate” myth?

    Better takedowns, please.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    October 23, 2011 at 4:53 pm

    @efgoldman: FOX NEWS is an entertainment channel..you can’t be sued..See how easy that is.

  9. 9.

    Dougerhead

    October 23, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    @Marc:

    He is a moderate, I don’t disagree with that. His main sin is being is a Wall Street whore, but Schumer is one too.

  10. 10.

    jeffreyw

    October 23, 2011 at 4:56 pm

    @efgoldman: He is well known for the terrific piece he did on the fakery in pro wrestling.

  11. 11.

    Mark S.

    October 23, 2011 at 4:58 pm

    The comments led me to this takedown, where Professor Easterbrook teaches us:

    For a century, physicists have elaborately fine-tuned a concept of the natural world in which there are four fundamental forces: gravity, the “strong force” that holds atoms together, the “weak force” that keeps electrons in place around atoms, and electromagnetism (light, radio waves, X-rays, etc.).

    He’s definitely wrong on what the weak force is. Is light considered a manifestation of electromagnetism? That doesn’t sound right to me either.

  12. 12.

    Nellie in NZ

    October 23, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    Totally off topic. Groggy after All Blacks won the World Cup last night. Just needed to say that here, there, and everywhere.

  13. 13.

    Roger Moore

    October 23, 2011 at 5:01 pm

    @Mark S.:

    Is light considered a manifestation of electromagnetism?

    Yes. Light, or more often longer wavelength things like radio and microwave, is sometimes called electromagnetic radiation. You are spot on about his mistake about the weak force, though; it’s sometimes called the weak nuclear force, and is most notable for its role in radioactive decay.

  14. 14.

    Marc

    October 23, 2011 at 5:04 pm

    Brown is only moderate by the insane standards of the modern GOP. I think most of the front-pagers and readers here probably scoff at the typical media description of Snowe or Collins as moderates, and Brown is in the same boat.

    I’ve just spent the last couple of minutes following the links that Gelman cites as “evidence” of Brown’s moderation. Two of them are links to a *prediction* Gelman’s friend made about Brown’s voting; the other is a mention of a single vote, Brown’s vote for the financial regulatory bill. BJ regulars will recall that as the financial regulatory bill that Brown got watered down in exchange for his vote (after Russ Feingold decided to take his toys and go home).

    One token vote on weakened legislation doesn’t make Brown a moderate.

    I was going to say this piece was a much better Easterbrook takedown, but then I got to this line:

    “[Tom] Friedman’s speculations are often interesting…”

    Dear lord. Maybe Gelman should stick to statistics?

  15. 15.

    Dougerhead

    October 23, 2011 at 5:05 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Sure, but he’s not Jim DeMint.

  16. 16.

    PeakVT

    October 23, 2011 at 5:05 pm

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik: I don’t think that piece is meant to be sympathetic. It’s from an upcoming book by Robert (not Thomas) Frank, who IIRC is more-or-less a liberal.

  17. 17.

    Nellie in NZ

    October 23, 2011 at 5:14 pm

    If you can stand to hear Friedman at his most irrational, straw-man attacking, petulant self, listen to his interview this past Saturday on New Zealand National radio. Makes me cringe. The interviewer keeps trying to force him into rational discussion, but alas, that wasn’t going to work. He drips with condescension.

  18. 18.

    Nellie in NZ

    October 23, 2011 at 5:15 pm

    You should be able to see where Friedman is – right at the 8:12 mark.

  19. 19.

    Keithley

    October 23, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    @Mark S.: Physics Prof here. Yes, his description of the weak force is just egregiously wrong. He redeems himself a little with the correct observation that light is a manifestation of electromagnetism.

  20. 20.

    Mark S.

    October 23, 2011 at 5:23 pm

    @Nellie in NZ:

    Can we offer you Friedman as a token of friendship? All right, all right, we’ll throw in Bobo as well.

  21. 21.

    RSA

    October 23, 2011 at 5:24 pm

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik:

    Meanwhile, we have the Wall Street Journal’s heart-wrenching account of the plight of the 1% (shocking, I know).

    Great quote. I wonder if the WSJ the double meaning in the blurb for the article? It runs,

    And as go the rich, so goes much of the economy.

    No shit, because the top 1% of the population owns over a third of the wealth in the U.S.

  22. 22.

    Bill Murray

    October 23, 2011 at 5:30 pm

    @Roger Moore: the electromagnetic and weak forces have often been combined, recently, as the electroweak force

  23. 23.

    Steve

    October 23, 2011 at 5:32 pm

    I found Easterbrook’s political column less objectionable than his sports writing. One of his favorite sports arguments is to criticize a team for passing on something like 4th-and-2 by saying “the average run in the NFL last year gained 3.2 yards, therefore they simply had to run and they were favored to get a first down.” If you think that’s logical, there may be a spot on the WSJ editorial board for you.

  24. 24.

    srv

    October 23, 2011 at 5:33 pm

    And while you’re kicking Easterbrook, you might as well kick Bobo again over at driftglass.

  25. 25.

    JPL

    October 23, 2011 at 5:37 pm

    Call Brown’s office..they say he is protecting 300,000 small businesses but wait there are only less than 100,000 effected by his current votes… how can that be? link
    call his office and ask how many are affected and then send then a link to the facts……….

  26. 26.

    Maude

    October 23, 2011 at 5:38 pm

    @Nellie in NZ:
    Friedman goes off on these emotional toots. He also finds a word or phrase that he likes and keeps repeating them. He needs a rattle.

  27. 27.

    Mark S.

    October 23, 2011 at 5:41 pm

    @Steve:

    I’ve heard that dumb argument by other people. Another one I’ve heard is “The offense recovers 50% of fumbles, so having a running back who fumbles a lot isn’t a big deal.”

  28. 28.

    Judas Escargot

    October 23, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    IMO, Scott Brown wants to be Governor of Massachusetts someday. He’ll be as ‘moderate’ as he needs to be to keep that possibility open, but no further. I’ve also realized since last year that he’s not at all stupid: he’s actually one savvy, cagey, politically talented mofo. (One more childish prejudice, shattered).

    It will be interesting to watch his votes between now and next November: As the Senator from Fidelity, he has certain ‘commitments’. But he’ll (probably) be in a tight race with Elizabeth Warren. And if OWS survives the winter, it will be strong in a state like this.

    Also expect more Brownian tonguebaths from the WSJ throughout the year. The two ladies from Maine may start to get jealous.

  29. 29.

    PeakVT

    October 23, 2011 at 6:01 pm

    @Nellie in NZ: Your link seems to have gotten lost.

    @Keithley: He’s wrong, but there’s no good way to explain the weak force in terms of what it does for us in the everyday world, which is what Easterbrook seems to be doing. The phrase “causes the sun to burn” would still be wrong, but that would at least indicate the most important practical consequence.

  30. 30.

    Roger Moore

    October 23, 2011 at 6:18 pm

    @PeakVT:

    He’s wrong, but there’s no good way to explain the weak force in terms of what it does for us in the everyday world, which is what Easterbrook seems to be doing.

    I think the best quick description is that it’s responsible for nuclear reactions. That’s not all it does, and people might not understand what you’re saying exactly, but at least it is approximately correct.

  31. 31.

    piratedan

    October 23, 2011 at 6:19 pm

    @The Snarxist Formerly Known As Kryptik: the wsj comments are priceless, one asshat even blames the economic meltdown on those companies that didn’t do their jobs rating the risks and funds appropriately, completely ignoring the fact that those companies were bought off by the perpetrators themselves and how the financial organizations lobbied for the ability to deregulate their areas so they could do all of the financial fleecing and NO ONE calls him on it.

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    October 23, 2011 at 6:32 pm

    @piratedan:
    The big problem is that everyone really is guilty, so you can plausibly shift the blame to whomever you prefer. It’s true that the ratings agencies weren’t doing their jobs, and if they had done their jobs they might have been able to head off the crisis. Of course if the investment banks hadn’t put together crap CDOs, or the banks hadn’t made the mortgages that were put into those crap CDOs, or the home buyers hadn’t lied about their income to get those mortgages, we also wouldn’t be in this mess.

  33. 33.

    Judas Escargot

    October 23, 2011 at 7:04 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Depends on his votes over the next year. And on what votes Reid and the other Senate Dems are clever enough to force him (and the other Repubs) to make.

    Local Teabaggers can be heard complaining that Brown has been ‘too liberal’, though they never seem able to concretely explain why. So for now, he can present himself as a moderate.

    But any pro-Wall St. vote over the next year will be fodder for Elizabeth Warren, in an environment that is likely to still be anti-bank.

    We’ll see what he does, is all.

  34. 34.

    devtob

    October 23, 2011 at 8:14 pm

    Way back in 1981, Easterbrook wrote a long article for the Washington Monthly about helicopters.

    Short version from memory —

    We lost thousands of helicopters in Vietnam, more than officially recorded, because helicopters are very vulnerable to ground fire — not just small missiles, but also AK-47s.

    The Army, because it cannot have fixed-wing aircraft, wanted to build tank-killer helicopters that would be less effective and far more likely to be shot down than the Air Force’s A-10.

    Helicopters have obvious military value — for transport and medical evacuation — but in combat with a well-armed enemy (like the Soviet Union, this was 1981) attack helicopters would be death traps.

    Easterbrook was better as a reporter then than he is now as a C-list pundit.

  35. 35.

    RAM

    October 23, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    If you’re looking for a good Esterbrook takedown, try PZ Myers’: http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/10/23/ick-easterbrook

  36. 36.

    Nellie in NZ

    October 24, 2011 at 1:39 am

    Hmm, don’t know where the link went but it should be at National Radio New Zealand, then go to Saturday morning with Kim Hill.

    As an American visitor said recently, Kiwis don ‘t tolerate nonsense and the comments after Friedman went off the air. Send him down with a one way ticket and let the All Blacks sort him out. Him and Bobo too.

  37. 37.

    Lee Hartmann

    October 24, 2011 at 7:53 am

    as I posted before in Levenson’s blog:

    http://thepoorman.net/2008/06/18/gregg-easterbrook-is-wait-for-it-an-idiot/

  38. 38.

    SW

    October 24, 2011 at 8:57 am

    I don’t think Greg Easterbrook is a real person. No one is that stupid. It has to be a pen name for some complicated piece of performance art.

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