>You are too flattering to him. In the Straussian precincts of the
>Cmtee on Social Thought, it is presumed that taxi drivers and
>businessmen can't think and must be lied to by the Enlightened. I am
>not making this up. What I am saying is literally true.
Do tell more.
The other day at the Nation's offices, Alterman MC'd a chat with Joan Didion. Why a talented and distinguished writer like Didion had to be saddled with such an interlocutor is anyone's guess, but it was a sad sight. During the proceedings, Alterman made a revealing reference to a fantasy of a "better elite." He made it clear that he wrote not for a broad audience, or to democratize political discourse, but for a small group of the Enlightened. Who aren't Enlightened enough for him. But this helps explain his fondness for Lilla.
Doug