Monday, September 26, 2011

Thomas Friedman has written a new book!

And, in spite of the efforts of co-author Michael Mandelbaum, it still sucks! Andrew Ferguson dives into That Used to Be Us, and fetches up a sack of some of the worst writing by a Pulitzer Prize winner you will ever see. Herewith, a grisly specimen:
Mr. Friedman can turn a phrase into cliché faster than any Madison Avenue jingle writer. He announces that "America declared war on math and physics." Three paragraphs later, we learn that we're "waging war on math and physics." Three sentences later: "We went to war against math and physics." And onto the next page: "We need a systemic response to both our math and physics challenges, not a war on both." Three sentences later: We must "reverse the damage we have done by making war on both math and physics," because, we learn two sentences later, soon the war on terror "won't seem nearly as important as the wars we waged against physics and math." He must think we're idiots.
Oh, he does, he does! That's why he employs a rhetorical pile-driver. Only way him make us savvy, by 'n by.

Save your money and buy something worthwhile - like ammo or a new tie.

1 comment:

Yojimbo said...

America did not wage war on math and physics. The Great Society waged war on the family and learning. The left began making a big push to strengthen their grip on teachers unions and used them as a source of manpower and money. The emphasis was on doing less for more money with less accountability. Look at the negative correlation between test scores and the rise of graduate degrees in education.

The rise in power of teachers unions and using the education systems as nothing more than indoctrination centers spelled the end of one of the best education systems in the world.