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September 22, 2011
Tom "I'm Writing As Bad As I Can" Freidman Strikes Again
"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." -- Book Review: That Used to Be Us - WSJ.comPosted by Vanderleun at September 22, 2011 11:40 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
No no no! There is no war on anything anymore. Did you NOT get the memo? We have made wars obsolete, except the war on poverty which is really a war on the rich. No. We haven't any war on science and math. We have criminalized knowledge and arrested development. We have sentimentalized and loaded with feelingness everything that demands hard, cold logic. So we have instead, Coping with Math and Scientists all agree with Al Gore about climate change. And if you aren't in agreement with Al Gore, you are not a scientist.
What Tom Friedman is doing is waging a war on language. And in his case, language has lost the battle. We need to wage a war on Tom Friedman.
Posted by: Jewel at September 22, 2011 12:05 PM
As the little Corsican Emperor said, Jewel, never interrupt our enemy when he is making a mistake.
Posted by: james wilson at September 22, 2011 12:47 PM
The NYT's resident fascist apologist is a hack writer employing cliches?
I'm (not) shocked.
Posted by: Mikey NTH at September 22, 2011 12:51 PM
Friedman doing any math and physics would be regarded as an act of war.
Posted by: chuck at September 22, 2011 5:32 PM
Friedman doing any math and physics would be an act of magic.
Posted by: Jewel at September 22, 2011 6:28 PM