or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
September 29, 2009
America's Elites Are Funny
This is the beginning of a gigantic New Yorker article by James B. Stewart called "Eight Days:
The battle to save the American financial system" (not online):
The most important week in American financial history since the Great Depression began at 8 A.M. on a Friday in the middle of September last year. I have pieced together this account of it from scores of interviews with participants and observers. Many of the principals agreed to be interviewed, including Henry Paulson, who was Secretary of the Treasury; Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve System; and Timothy Geithner, who was president of the New York Federal Reserve. As time has passed, memories inevitably have been colored by hindsight and efforts to shade the truth, to affix blame and claim credit, but, as one Treasury official told me, referring to himself and his colleagues, "For better or worse, we're the ones responsible. The more accurately the story is told, the better our policies will be received."
It's funny that a Treasury official (probably Paulson) would talk about how important it was to him for the story to be told accurately, and then refuse to be named. I guess him talking about how the story should be accurate isn't part of the story.
It's funny that James Stewart was willing to print it anyway, and without drawing attention to how preposterous it is.
It's funny that no editor at the New Yorker thought to question whether they should print something at the very beginning of the article that would make you feel the rest of it was going to be bullshit.
Funny.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at September 29, 2009 05:45 AMAh, bullshit, its the glue that holds US together.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at September 29, 2009 10:00 AMAh, bullshit, its the glue that holds US together.
Ahhh! My SLOGAN for the DAY.
Posted by: empty at September 29, 2009 11:12 AMThat's a very smart post, but cowpoke Mike Meyer has eclipsed it with the comment of the century.
Posted by: N E at September 29, 2009 11:40 AMAh yes, as George Carlin used to say "It's all bullshit out there, and it's all bad for you."
Posted by: Walt C at September 29, 2009 02:21 PMAh yes, as George Carlin used to say "It's all bullshit out there, and it's all bad for you."
Posted by: Walt C at September 29, 2009 02:21 PMJon, I don't see why you have to pick on Paulson, or whoever the anonymous coward was. Don't you realize that it's all politics, and he did the best he could? In a perfect world, he could have made everything turn out the way we leftists would like it to, but we don't live in a perfect world and should recognize that. The same goes for Bush, Bush III in the White House now, of course. The Republicans couldn't make things all better until they'd won a few more elections. Until we can get the votes, we should stop whining.
Posted by: Duncan at September 29, 2009 02:35 PMIt's all about the Obomb in '12, that's when he's going to unleash his true radical self. So just take this first four years of "faking right" with a knowing smile, because Otopia awaits us in 2012, as the Mayan calendar predicts.
Posted by: marcus at September 29, 2009 03:06 PMThe "New Yorker" is (and has been for over a decade), a journal of, by and for Corporate America.
Remember how at one point Rachel Carson could rest easy, knowing that when she finished "Silent Spring" The New Yorker would publish major parts of it?
Now a days, The New Yorker would rather have entire articles praising Monsanto's Head of State than mention how awful for the environment the Monsanto-designed GMO's truly are. So what if ten thousand Indian farmers off themselves every year, due to losing their farms to the cotton seeds from Hell? Monsanto is an All American Corporation and deserves only praise. (According to the New Yorker.)
It is is just one more part and parcel of this nation's Orwellian nightmare.
The late great crusader Che Guevera once pointed out that when the military-supported, fascist dictater overstepped the boundaries and fell into such immense unpopularity that a revolt was likely, then that same military's inner circle of fiends would choose someone likeable to take over. So that is "the negotiated solution" that got us Obama vs McCain/Palin last fall. (I haven't decided if Obama knows this about himself or not. He may well be simply enjoying his visits with the Princess, as Jimmy Stewart did until he was forced to see reality in "Mr Smith Goes to Washington.)
As for us average people - if you still think that this is a free nation, you really need to be put in a small room and force fed Saint George Carlin's speech about "You and me don't belong to that club," repeatedly until the message is realized in its entirety.
Posted by: Carol Dagg at September 29, 2009 04:58 PMThe Mayan calendar just wraps around in 2012, it doesn't predict an apocalypse of any kind.
Posted by: Save the Oocytes at September 29, 2009 06:44 PMThanks, S the Os. I've been living in Otopia for months and I was afraid it would end in 2012. I'lll rest easy now.
Posted by: drip at September 29, 2009 06:59 PMI like Carol Dagg. She knows her shit.
Posted by: The Anti-Federalist at September 30, 2009 12:17 AM95m0GL I want to say - thank you for this!
Posted by: lilikindsli at October 5, 2009 01:38 AM
