Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Unpacking Brooks: An exercise

This is a brief exercise in what you might call Brooksological hermeneutics. I'm afraid if I try to explain it it will wilt, so I'm just throwing it out here.

Conradt Veidt in Paul Leni's 1928 The Man who Laughs. Image via some Tumblr where I can't find it.
Verbatim David Brooks, "The Sexual Politics of 2016", March 29 2016:
I’ve grappled
with determining
how much to blame
Trump’s supporters
for his rise.
Many of them are victims
of economic dislocation
and it is hard to fault them
for seeking a change, of course,
even if it is simplistic and ignorant.
"I'm having such a tough time," Brooks remarked.

"About what?" asked Father Phil.

"How much I should blame Trump's supporters. I can't seem to determine it. I'm really grappling."

"Blame them for what?"

"For Trump's rise. I'd like to blame them a lot, but it's hard."

"Hard?"

"A lot of them are victims, you know? Economic dislocation. They're just seeking a change. So I'm finding it hard to fault them."

"It's simplistic and ignorant to fault them, too."

"I know right. That's the worst part. It should be easy. I can't understand what's wrong with me."

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