[extropy-chat] Politics: worthwhile commentary

[Jef Allbright]

On 12/30/05, spike <spike66 at comcast.net> wrote:
> > --- Robert Bradbury <robert.bradbury at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> ...
> >
> > > I would view any "political" commentary which does
> > not include Friedman's perspective as incompletely
> > informed.
> >
> >            *******************************
> >
> > I'm sorry, Robert, but with respect, I strenuously
> > disagree... Best, Jeff Davis
>
>
> This is a bit of intellectual laziness on my part.  In
> deciding which political comlumnist in which to invest
> time, one may take a shortcut by looking at which
> ExI posters like the columnist and which do not.  Since I
> have been reading ExI posts for years, I can make
> a rough judgment on its value.  Two of the posters
> I hold in high esteem disagree.  Robert Bradbury likes
> Friedman, Jeff Davis apparently dislikes.
>
> Others please, who are familiar with Thomas Friedman: like
> or dislike?
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/thomasl
> friedman/
>
> Victor Davis Hanson, like or dislike?
>
> http://victorhanson.com/articles/index.html
>
> Other online-available columnists?
>
> Samantha, Rafal, Damien, David Lubkin, Jef, gts, some of you
> others who sometimes post politically oriented material, who
> are your favorite columnists?
>

I read _ The Lexus and the Olive Tree_ and _The World Is Flat_ and
liked that they were quick and easy reads that stimulated my thinking
on globalization.  On the other hand, I disliked the
less-than-rigorous, highly anecdotal, popular-consumption level of the
writing, somewhat  dumbed-down and over-hyped in a way that was almost
constantly setting off my bullshit detectors -- not due to content so
much as due to the manner of presentation.

I've read many of Friedman's items in the NYT as well, and they often
stimulate some interesting thought, but often with a distinct whiff of
bias, or more accurately, narrowness.

It may be useful to point out that on those occasions when I'm exposed
to television, I deliberately turn away from most commercials to avoid
the nuisance to my memetic immune system. ;-)

In general, I agree with much of what he's saying, but don't enjoy the
style of persuasion in which it is presented.  Being the "see the
bigger picture", "more encompassing context" guy that I am, I like to
see how all the pieces fit, not just the pieces that make a good
story.

- Jef