Tag Archives: David Brooks

The old ball and chain

Posted on 4/4/2013 by John Casey

A playground loser may save his ego with the following: I didn’t want to win anyway.  Here’s Yale Professor David Brooks’ latest version. But last week saw a setback for the forces of maximum freedom. A representative of millions of gays and … Continue reading →

Posted in David Brooks | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Wherein David Brooks gets it partially right

Posted on 9/19/2012 by John Casey

Whenever a politician says something inexcusably horrible, you can rest assured that a parade of iron manners, that is, the sophists, will appear, attempting to make the weak argument appear stronger.  This has so far been the case with Mitt … Continue reading →

Posted in General discussion | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Anomalous regularity

Posted on 2/17/2012 by John Casey

There are a couple of people I now consider it completely safe to ignore: George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Michael Gerson, and of course, David Brooks.  These are the guys who inspired this whole project.  Every now and then, however, it's … Continue reading →

Posted in Contradictions, David Brooks | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Trust your feelings

Posted on 9/25/2011 by John Casey

In service of the idea that arguments infect people like viruses, immuno-suppressed Dennis Prager catches some of that David Brooks virus (see here).  Prager, however, manages to get a worse version of Brooksosis acuta: This latest study cited by David Brooks … Continue reading →

Posted in Bad Explanations, General discussion, ignorance of basic matters of logic, Plain Bad Arguments, Things that are false | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Today’s utes

Posted on 9/16/2011 by John Casey

Kids today, they suck at moral reasoning.  I know this because David Brooks told me so.  He read a book by some Domers about it.  He takes this as his starting point.  He then concludes: In most times and in … Continue reading →

Posted in General discussion | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The simple reason there is no simple reason

Posted on 3/8/2011 by John Casey

David Brooks illustrates today that there's a simple, singular reason people employ the oversimplified cause argument scheme: Over the course of my career, I’ve covered a number of policy failures. When the Soviet Union fell, we sent in teams of … Continue reading →

Posted in David Brooks, General discussion, oversimplified cause, Straw We | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Double standards

Posted on 1/20/2011 by John Casey

Double standards are fun.  We need them in order to get by in life.  All you Irish people, eager for the liberation of Northern Ireland from the hated British (sorry British), might stop to consider that the IRA is a … Continue reading →

Posted in David Brooks | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Hack 30

Posted on 11/23/2010 by John Casey

We're busy here indoctrinating young minds into the mysteries of obversion, contraposition, and conversion, so please enjoy Salon.com's Hack Thirty.  The thirty worst columnists, journalists, and pundits in America. Some old friends there. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend … Continue reading →

Posted in General discussion | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

The weekender

Posted on 11/17/2010 by John Casey

In a lot ways the pseudo-reasonable ramblings of David Brooks inspired our work here.  It's a pleasure, then, to see our analysis echoed by others: There is no pleasure for the pundit quite like the neat, clear-edged dichotomy. I have felt … Continue reading →

Posted in David Brooks | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Up hill, both ways

Posted on 8/25/2010 by John Casey

David Brooks looks with nostalgia to a time when surgery was done without anaesthesia and draws some important lessons. Burney’s struggle reminds one that character is not only moral, it is also mental. Heroism exists not only on the battlefield or … Continue reading →

Posted in Inexplicable | Tagged | 1 Comment