Splicetoday

Politics & Media
Aug 08, 2008, 07:56AM

Lord Of The Memes

Dropping Derida references in conversation is so last-century. The modern poseur, as David Brooks advises, is so savvy on cultural aggregation that he's already remixing the meme you just heard about. Start a cooler email account and get on board the hype machine before pretension passes you by.

It pains me to see so many people being pseudo-intellectual in the wrong way. It desecrates the memory of the great poseurs of the past. And it is all the more frustrating because your error is so simple and yet so fundamental.

You have failed to keep pace with the current code of intellectual one-upsmanship. You have failed to appreciate that over the past few years, there has been a tectonic shift in the basis of good taste.

When you first come across some obscure cultural artifact — an unknown indie band, organic skate sneakers or wireless headphones from Finland — you will want to erupt with ecstatic enthusiasm. This will highlight the importance of your cultural discovery, the fineness of your discerning taste, and your early adopter insiderness for having found it before anyone else.

Then, a few weeks later, after the object is slightly better known, you will dismiss all the hype with a gesture of putrid disgust. This will demonstrate your lofty superiority to the sluggish masses. It will show how far ahead of the crowd you are and how distantly you have already ventured into the future.

If you can do this, becoming not only an early adopter, but an early discarder, you will realize greater status rewards than you ever imagined. Remember, cultural epochs come and go, but one-upsmanship is forever.

Discussion
  • Honestly, I can't believe Brooks wrote this. Can someone explain to me how this is possible? He's almost...hip.

    Responses to this comment
  • This schtick has been done before...this is old hat.

    Responses to this comment
  • This is from the same guy who recently argued that contemporary music sucks because it isn't as dominated by a handful of mega-rockstars who really love the blues.

    Responses to this comment
  • Here's the link: www.nytimes.com/2007/11/20/opinion/20brooks.html

    Responses to this comment
  • Ackk... (here's the other half) /2007/11/20/opinion/20brooks.html

    Responses to this comment
  • See, exactly! This guy is so out of the know it isn't even funny. What business does he have writing about the younger generation in the New York Times? He's misleading an entire older slice of the population that wants to know what the young people are like and what they think (see mumblecore). But it's probably better that way.

    Responses to this comment
  • You're missing the point, Eureka. Brooks has no clue that he's misleading anyone; he thinks he's an op-ed sociologist who has his pulse not only on the elite, but the "heartland." Just the fact that he thinks the Kindle is important--when it's just another Boomer toy--indicates that at least on trend topics he's over the hill. But what would you expect from a daily newspaper, especially the prominent Times, which still sends guys pushing 60 to cover new bands.

    Responses to this comment
  • Wait a minute, Timothy. The Times doesn't send Brooks to CMJ or anything; he's a political columnist who very, very occasionally talks about other topics, like he did in the supremely boneheaded piece bruce referenced, or in this one, which I found funny and rather accurate. The guy writes two columns a week, year-round; he can't skip the expected Obama/McCain blather once in a while and talk about something else? You're so eager to express Times-hatred, but I find Brooks' column to be one of their most redeeming aspects.

    Responses to this comment
  • Timothy, I didn't mean he's misleading them on purpose, I think he's good-intentioned if a bit self-interested, but he's unintentionally giving boomers false knowledge about the young folk. This isn't the most offensive piece I've ever read, but it is telling of the older generations and how they want to remain viable and hip and cool.

    Responses to this comment
  • Of course Brooks can write about anything he wants; that's the benefit of being an op-ed columnist. But his history of Gail Sheehy-like chronicles of modern American life, which began at The Weekly Standard, then with his off-the-mark book Bobos in Paradise, and now the Times column, isn't what I call redeeming. Thomas Friedman, although no stylist, is better, I think, and Joseph Nocera on the business page is good as well. I don't like the Times, but in a paper so big there are obviously some talented writers. Out of curiosity, what other aspects of the Times do you find "redeeming"?

    Responses to this comment
  • I'd say that, despite whatever one's feelings toward Brooks' cultural analyses, the Times has the most comprehensive arts and culture coverage in the country, hands down, with the staff to cover major happenings in Detroit, DC, LA and across the pond. Their eye toward layout—not just as a necessity of a print edition but as part of the art being represented—is unparalleled. Of course, some of the content is stodgy, foreign-correspondent-style pretension, but ultimately there is no better weekly Arts section. Their music coverage is not my favorite, and yes that has something to do with dudes pushin' 60, but it's also a product of there being simply way too many up-to-date Web pubs and the like at our disposal. And the magazine? Stellar.

    Responses to this comment
  • I'm no Times-basher, ASKlein, but the magazine is stellar? Don't think so. Matt Bai is very good on politics, but the "ethicist" is a joke, the fashion and food stuff is dull and designed to sell advertisements, Deborah Solmon's interviews could appear in, well, Interview magazine, and their theme issues are hackneyed. I like the daily Times better than Sunday's. Krugman's cranky but he's fighting a battle and isn't frivolous. Friedman's on the money. Jack Curry and Tyler Kepner are very good sportswriters. But keep the mag, and its spawn T.

    Responses to this comment

Register or Login to leave a comment