>He said to me how sad it is that someone like Robert Kuttner, who is a
>democratic socialist in his private views, positions himself as a "liberal"
>to deal with the constraints of entering public debate- another part of the
>problem of irony he sees where strong views are unacceptable in a culture
of
>bland ironic conformity.
read http://www.civmag.com/articles/C9909E05.html for an argument against conformity and for irony
>And he dislikes the whole selling of himself by
>publishers and the press as some kind of nature boy hick discovering the
>corruption of the big city, since reporters pick and choose comments he and
>others make to fit that story.
Two things struck me in the NYT magazine article. One: one of his editors say "I thought we could reach a young audience with this book." Two: Jed mentions "irony and its simpler sister, cynicism." I'd have to read the book to see what he really has to say, but my argument with him, from what I've read so far, is that cynicism is a healthy reaction to the political system, much better than a naive belief in the consensus. And it should be emphasized that the cause has less to do with the moral failure of young folks, and more to do with their relative powerlessness and with the moral failings of so-called leaders. (see How Cynicism Happens: http://www.suck.com/daily/99/06/02/ ) One could point to Vietnam and Watergate or even to Clinton's numerous sell outs. Looking at the reviews, he seems to be saying that Letterman or Seinfeld or "Married ... with Children" is causing all the problems.
Yoshie once wrote a very good post on the differences between irony and cynicism; from what I read in the reviews, Jed didn't iron - if you'll pardon the expression - this out in his book which is surprising considering how well-read he is. Irony can be more combative and subversive while cynicism borders on nihilism. And of course there's skepticism. Doug recently wrote a post about a book about apathy in America - where people are decried as "soapboxing" for just talking politics. Now if Jed is fighting this, fine (though if you look on the Internet and on cable, there seems to be plenty of soapboxing). I don't agree that irony should be disparaged wholesale, nor should sarcasm. We on the left will have few weapons or coping mechanisms left without them. If deprived of sarcasm, I don't think I'd be able to deal with the likes of Dan Quayle. I have to admit, wised-up sarcasm coming from the right - P.J. O'Rourke for example - annoys the shit out of me.