Following the U.S. national team in the World Cup is a somewhat solitary endeavor in part because the scheduling doesn't lend itself to social or family watching. Unlike the Olympics, the World Cup is not scheduled or televised according to U.S. preferences—the last time the quadrennial tournament was staged in the Western hemisphere was 1994. To watch the United States' opening game in the 2002 World Cup, I had to go to the Irish pub across from my New York apartment at 4 a.m. This year the schedule is only slightly better: this Saturday against England at 2:30 p.m. ET, Friday, June 18, against Slovenia at 10 a.m. ET, then Wednesday, June 23, at 10 a.m. ET, against Algeria. Yes, pubs and sports bars will be showing the games. But how many people will leave work, or take the day off, or skip the Little League game or pool party, to sit indoors and watch a soccer match? My guess is that when the U.S. plays England, the bars in New York and Los Angeles will be like Condé Nast in the 1990s—overrun with Brits.
What I have often smacked down from this corner as “the outrage of the week” and the panicked Chicken Little behavior of those who follow the commercial media’s constant feedbag of crisis and attention-seeking, is really, all of it, a consequence of the harms that de Botton describes. Like domesticated oxen, the population is yanked from media stoked crisis to crisis, all of which carry a whiff of apocalypse: an oil gusher in the Gulf now comes with underwater 24-hour live stream cameras, all available online and to TV networks, as experts – real and invented – jump onto our screens to tell us their version of what is happening…
De Botton describes the debilitating effect of all this crisis-mongering on the media consumer. But we had also better study what it does to the media worker – not just journalists, per se, but communicators and artists of all kinds – who are now reduced to typing monkeys that have to go out and find those “instant experts” or cram to be able to at least play them on TV, or on a blog, or any other media. You’re expected to write or talk or shout about every crisis of the week, so you – I'm talking to you, fellow and sister media workers! – run to Wikipedia and the rest of the online library to pull up some factoids and buzzwords that fool the crowd into thinking the reporter or communicator really knows what he and she are writing or talking about. The formulaic nature of this kind of frenetic activity at work stations is killing so much of the creativity of the formerly “creative class”!
Even if you don’t care at all about the environmental damage caused by the petroleum industry, however, and Jacoby doesn’t seem to, you should still support efforts to reduce our oil consumption. In fact, the more miraculous and unique you believe the properties of oil are, the more you should support this reduction. It’s true that petroleum combines energy density with portability at room temperature and pressure in a way that no other substance does. It actually is something of a miraculous fuel, and it has powered our economic growth for close to a century now. There’s no fuel that even comes close to replacing kerosene and naphtha as jet fuel. What’s astonishing is that we know that it’s irreplaceable and we know that there’s a quite finite amount of it easily extractable, and yet we continue to use it with utter profligacy. We pave our roads with it. We drink from bottles made out of it. Will we someday be unable to fly across the country because we couldn’t bring ourselves to stop paving over greenfields with petroleum so that our petroleum-gulping SUVs could park in front of our petroleum-clad houses?
Today on the Dish, Iceland unanimously adopted gay marriage, we found a raft of new footage showing dead and imperiled Iranians, and a new video of the flotilla emerged as well. Andrew confronted Chait's latest take on Israel, responded to a reader invoking the trauma of terrorism, and talked about the president's management style with the spill. More on BP's criminality here and here (and a heap of BS here). Talk of a Gulf recovery act here and an ethanol bailout here.
In other news, the recession forecast looked excellent, the cannabis forecast looked good, and a reader's recession was looking up. Quote for the day here and questions here. Malkin Award here. Readers went backand forth over the impact of wind turbines on birds (carbon is still the biggest culprit). Jesse Bering looked into the evolutionary ties of public speaking. Andrew sided with the England team and highlighted some English humor.
Thursday on the Dish, Andrew delivered his latest take on Israeli politics, kept the heat on Michael Oren, and bloviated over means testing Social Security. He also highlighted the harsh anti-gay policy of the Boston archdiocese, and readers chimed in here and here. In spill coverage, the Brits bit back over perceived xenophobia, more horrible details emerged about dead birds, and the company got lampooned by UCB. Further BP coverage here, here, and especially here.
An unusually long string of daily quotes here (Kristol), here (NoKo), here (Kagan), here (Israel), here (Prop 8), and here (oil spill). We also dug into the data on interracial marriage, saw more evidence of gay acceptance, and kept an eye on the far right in Holland. Palin hilarity here. Glenn Beck hathos here.
In assorted commentary, Larison countered Yglesias on Iran sanctions, Joel Wing spotlighted the extreme wealth in Iraq politics, and Joe Klein took down Dorothy Rabinowitz over Obama's patriotism. Readers dissented over the gay generational divide, shared their thoughts on the spill's spiritual crisis, offered expert opinion on California's new primary scheme, sounded off on the VFYW contest, and shared more info on the Carpenters.
Hewitt award here, a close candidate here, and Thiessen bile here. Entertaining videos here, here, and here. Random hilarity here and here. Petite vanilla scone update here. Super creepy ad here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here.
Wednesday on the Dish, Andrew took a long look at the complex and troubled history of Israel. He also scratched his head at Michael Oren and Eli Lake. Gadi Taub pleaded with Israel to change course, Yglesias analyzed the latest sanctions against Iran, and John Collins Rudolf revealed the hidden damage of the oil spill. Prop 8 court updates here and here. Get your Palin fix here and here.
In electoral coverage, Josh Marshall checked in on the latest primary results, Ambinder addressed California's new jungle primaries, Taylor Steven made the case for an incumbent victory this fall, and Andrew hoped for a GOP comeback. Kaus campaign update here. In assorted commentary, Jeff Jacoby went to bat for petroleum, Edward Glaeser defended merit pay, David McRaney talked counter-culture and capitalism, Doug McCune visualized San Francisco's various crimes, Patrick examined the demographics of Internet users, and Alain de Botton warned of the perils of tracking the news.
Andrew meditated over death and conservatism while readers sounded off on fag hags. Lesbian PSA here, remixed movie posters here, and more music from the Carpenters here. Our chart of the day showed a shocking rate of incarceration. Recession view here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here.
We also announced the winner of our first VFYW contest and heard from a bunch of losers.
(William West/AFP/Getty Images)
Tuesday on the Dish we looked closely at the supposed al Qaeda-flotilla link, Israelis were found to have strongly supported the raid, Andrew challenged Walter Russell Mead's view of the US-Israel relationship, some Israeli students made a savvy gesture towards Turkey, and Madrid barred gay Israelis from a pride parade. Andrew also dug into a disturbing new report on Gitmo torture and wondered if there is a single anti-Zionist columnist. Dissents of the day here.
In spill coverage, Flowing Data illustrated BP's gross negligence, ProPublica exposed more criminality, and the Oniondid its work. Beinart shone a light on American hubris, TNC piled on the White House press corps beach party, Greenwald mocked Limbaugh's fourth marriage, Jim Burroway scrutinized a study of lesbian parents, Jesse Bering studied fag hags, E.D. Kain scrunched his forehead over school choice, and Matt Welch knocked journalist "objectivity." Foreign Policycommemorated the Green Movement and a rock group dedicated a song to Neda. Word Cup coverage here. Orly Taitz won't go away.
Readers defended atheism, others revolted over male reproductive rights, and another mused over her love for animals. Yeas and Nays scanned the District for gays and the Daily Caller spotted Obama speechwriters shirtless. Beard porn here and creepy ad here. MHB here, Sully MHBs here and here, VFYW here, and FOTD here.
The Dish launched its first installment of the VFYW contest (with only a minor hiccup).
Monday on the Dish, Andrew laid into BP, demanded the full footage of the flotilla, spotlighted an empty apology from Israel, and went to bat for whistleblowers and Wikileaks. Beinart detailed the Israel-evangelical nexus and readers sounded off on his plea for Gilad Shalit. We also touched upon the Helen Thomas row and caught Palin in another lie.
Andrew and a reader discussed Palin's broken Christianity, another reader endorsed a quieter faith, and Stephen Prothero supported a similar non-faith. Ellerenewed the debate over male reproductive rights, Sady Doyle downplayed the perils of hooking up, Laura Vanderkam vouched for working in pajamas, Jonah Lehrer gazed into our memories, Nick Carr garnered a bunch of attention, and a reader shared her recession.
Catholic WTF here. A cool ad for gay marriage here. Hot beard action here. MHB here, VFYW here, and FOTD here. Details about a new Dish feature here.
If I were an Iranian protester observing American political discourse since the Green movement began, what would I notice? During the last 12 months, the voices who claimed they want to see democracy take root in Iran were vastly more concerned with the foreign policy of a free Turkey than an unfree Saudi Arabia. I would notice that the voluminous output of anti-Semitism in Saudi Arabia was ignored, while the demagoguery of Turkey's leaders was treated as evidence of a nascent Islamist rogue state and regional competitor.
I would conclude that the same voices professing solidarity with my cause are less concerned with political freedom than with geopolitical orientation.
It’s not as if habits of deep reflection, thorough research and rigorous reasoning ever came naturally to people. They must be acquired in special institutions, which we call universities, and maintained with constant upkeep, which we call analysis, criticism and debate. They are not granted by propping a heavy encyclopedia on your lap, nor are they taken away by efficient access to information on the Internet.
Why do the British love fart jokes so much? Rude Britannia, a British comic art show at the Tate in London, sheds some light:
Going too far, getting away with it, pushing your luck – there's something schoolboyish about British rudeness, about being quite the naughtiest kid in the class. And how quickly the connoisseur of British humour moves from naughtiness to bodily functions. The Fifties cabaret duo Flanders and Swann had a routine called "Mum's Out, Dad's Out, Let's Talk Rude", which climaxed with the line: "Pee, poo, belly, bum, drawers". One looks at the high number of bottoms and willies in the Rude Britannia show, and marvels at how fundamental our sense of humour has always been.
The Dish 