Nicholas Lemann and Judith Shulevitz
I Contradict You!
By Nicholas Lemann
Posted Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001, at 11:00 PM ETDear Judith,
Once I was invited to give a talk at the University of Chicago sociology department--just over wine and pretzels in a common room, very informal, etc. The minute I finished speaking, the legendary (for being a giant French theory dude) Loic J.D. Waquant, then a young grad student, stood up and declared, "I have detected six contradictions in your work!" And then he listed them.
Well, in that spirit, I have detected one contradiction in your work! If it's the peace and prosperity of our society that keeps us from seeing around the juncture points, then how come paying prison guards more would cause them to become so much more automatically suspicious of men lying on the ground face down outside the prison gates, moaning softly, that they would have nabbed our friend Mr. Brewer? By your reasoning, as their level of luxury went up, the guards' guards would go down--right?
I also want to know how the Jews could tell the disguised Palestinian was a fraud. And did they say, "Funny, you don't look Jewish?"
I agree about the inoculating effect of the accident. Does this mean you're going to stop making fun of me for being so superstitious?
Love, Nick
I Contradict You!
By Nicholas Lemann
Posted Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2001, at 11:00 PM ETNicholas Lemann writes "Letter from Washington" in The New Yorker
and is the author most recently of The Big Test. Judith Shulevitz, his wife, writes the "Close Reader" column in the New York Times Book Review.
Reader Comments From The Fray
:
[Notes from the Fray Editor: Don't like restaurants? Then let's discuss home cooking, and get some ideas for tonight's dinner, in this thread here. One of the cooks, Will Allen, has this to say elsewhere (context not really important, but he had been accused of pre-judging people): "I nearly always allow someone to clearly display their banal, wooden-headed, nature before denouncing it." There was an interesting thread on prison officers, the word 'perversely', and insults, starting here. Everyone was in cheerful mood in the Fray: Ex-Fed was able to start joke threads here and here (warning: this one was considered tasteless by another poster.) Ex-Fed also proposed marriage to one of the Breakfast Tablers, here: we're being a little circumspect because this involved being rude about the other BT-er. And there was a fan letter from Zeitguy to Judith Shulevitz here.]
If there's anything "unique" about American society, it's the amazing extent of our ability to think that we're somehow different from every other civilization in history. Maybe it's because our particular culture has only been around for a few hundred years, in a land where we are cut off almost completely from the ancient civilizations that have been around significantly longer. I don't know. But bored, whiny rich people? That's nothing new
--Mangar
(To reply, click here.)
It's not the self-pity that bothers me so much, though it's bad enough, but the truculence and righteous indignation and desire to grind the faces of the poor it seems to lead to.
To put it another way--what, exactly, are the rich and powerful so pissed off about? What is it that they want that they're not getting? 100% of the wealth instead of a mere 90%?
--Kassandra
(To reply, click here.)
(9/5)
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Reader Comments From The Fray
:
[Notes from the Fray Editor: Don't like restaurants? Then let's discuss home cooking, and get some ideas for tonight's dinner, in this thread here. One of the cooks, Will Allen, has this to say elsewhere (context not really important, but he had been accused of pre-judging people): "I nearly always allow someone to clearly display their banal, wooden-headed, nature before denouncing it." There was an interesting thread on prison officers, the word 'perversely', and insults, starting here. Everyone was in cheerful mood in the Fray: Ex-Fed was able to start joke threads here and here (warning: this one was considered tasteless by another poster.) Ex-Fed also proposed marriage to one of the Breakfast Tablers, here: we're being a little circumspect because this involved being rude about the other BT-er. And there was a fan letter from Zeitguy to Judith Shulevitz here.]
If there's anything "unique" about American society, it's the amazing extent of our ability to think that we're somehow different from every other civilization in history. Maybe it's because our particular culture has only been around for a few hundred years, in a land where we are cut off almost completely from the ancient civilizations that have been around significantly longer. I don't know. But bored, whiny rich people? That's nothing new
--Mangar
(To reply, click here.)
It's not the self-pity that bothers me so much, though it's bad enough, but the truculence and righteous indignation and desire to grind the faces of the poor it seems to lead to.
To put it another way--what, exactly, are the rich and powerful so pissed off about? What is it that they want that they're not getting? 100% of the wealth instead of a mere 90%?
--Kassandra
(To reply, click here.)
(9/5)