But here we are. I’ve no remorse in repeating that “cringe” sign-off in an article or social media post. What isn’t “cringe”? One example of a column that says nothing new appeared in The New York Times earlier this week, “Thinking Is Becoming a Luxury Good” by Mary Harrington, a British journalist, and author of Feminism Against Progress.
Harrington lets readers know that when she was a child at Waldorf school in England in the 1980s, her teachers warned against the hazards of watching too much TV. How novel! When I was growing up in the 1960s, and watched re-runs on weekend and school-break mornings, my mother had to push me out of the house, saying, “Get some fresh air, The Twilight Zone isn’t going away!”
Harrington marches on: “I chafed at the stricture then. But perhaps they were on to something: Today I don’t watch much TV and I still read a lot. Since my school days, however, a far more insidious and enticing form of tech has taken hold: the internet, especially via smartphones… The idea that technology is altering our capacity not just to concentrate but also to read and to reason is catching on. The conversation no one is ready for, though, is how this may be creating another form of inequality.”
She likens this to obesity, a condition apparently exclusive to lower economic classes. I see fat people every day, wealthy, poor or middle-class, and I blame it on the Big Gulp.
Re-capping: Harrington (who, one might charitably believe, had this essay stored—perhaps rejected by other outlets—and sent it to the we-never-say-much-that’s-new Times) has realized that people watch a lot of TV, are often fat, and that “the internet” is distracting. I’m surprised that she didn’t add that it’s no longer polite to describe blacks as “colored people.” Or that Trump cheats at golf (as if that’s uncommon).
Last Thursday, I speculated that the Stephen Colbert frenzy (exclusive to the media) had about a week left of currency. I think that’s correct, although there were dribs and drabs of “King Trump” demolishing the First Amendment over the weekend. Maureen Dowd, on July 26th (with an interesting self-deprecating come-on at the start of her column), wrote: “CBS is, as Colbert said, ‘morally bankrupt.’ It’s sickening to see media outlets, universities, law firm and tech companies bending the knee.” She writes (maybe with a straight face, but that’s debatable) that Colbert, who hosted a “top-rated broadcast” was “a big talent and valuable brand.” Later, she says he was “fired,” which isn’t really true, since (CBS) stupidly made the mistake of merely not renewing his contract and he’ll be on the air until next May, which says the network is “mentally bankrupt.”
Looking for anything to buttress a weak argument, Dowd canonized South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone (who just inked a $1.25 billion deal with Paramount), as defenders of all that isn’t knee-bending, like Colbert, with the season premiere of South Park. “It featured Trump with a ‘teeny-tiny’ you-know-what… and the president’s manic attempt to divert attention from ties to Jeffrey Epstein.”
Two points: one, Parker and Stone satirize whatever they feel like, left, right, MAGA gun-toters, and maybe soon Dowd and her friends, like The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser, who also weighed in about Epstein and the Colbert “firing.” That’s why Paramount gave them such a lucrative deal. Two, what’s with Dowd talking about Trump’s “you-know-what”? I assumed she had the freedom to write “dick” in the Times, Catholic background notwithstanding.
And Glasser is all-atwitter that Trump’s Epstein ties might sever him from his base. She cites Gallup polls and Politico, which is like drawing a pair of fours, not uncommon for David Remnick’s loyal steno gal. As she says, anyone interested in the Epstein List knows Trump’s on it, although she neglects to mention the countless Democrats who sailed on the pedo-peddler’s yacht, which, again, isn’t new, but a pro forma acknowledgement would’ve been more responsible. Not that responsibility (or accountability) count for shit in today’s MSM.
Gotta go! Mary Harrington’s Feminism Against Progress awaits on my desk.
But one last mention of a double-dipping Times/DNC shill who’s attempting to make The Atlantic look sane. Duke professor Frank Bruni (that means a triple-dip) warns readers that in order to neutralize (if not cut off his “you-know-what”) Trump, next fall’s midterms “mean everything.” More “breaking news,” that I find about as “cringe” as a Twitter “engagement farmer” asking, “Do you actually like The Beatles?”
Bruni: “I guess we’re going to be talking about Zohran Mamdani for every hour of every day for the foreseeable future, and I can certainly see why. A 33-year-old political larva, he’s nonetheless well positioned to become mayor of the most populous and consequential city in the most powerful country on Earth. He’s a great story and he matters. Hugely. But he’s no harbinger. No template. Mamdani’s fate in November 2025 will hold few clues and limited lessons for Democrats in November 2026, because New York City is not the United States. And we can’t afford to overlook that, because November 2026 is everything.”
That’s confusing. Bruni first says that NYC is “the most consequential city in the most powerful country on Earth.” But it’s “not the United States.” What about Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago, South Park, Baltimore and Portland? Are they also not the United States because residents there vote for the blue team? If polls are correct—not that I believe polls anymore—Bruni’s young students (increasingly scrimmaging for team red) would give the prof an F.
—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER2023