[lbo-talk] Bizarre Comment from David Brooks

[Eric Beck]

On 4/6/10, James Leveque <jamespl79 at googlemail.com> wrote:
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/opinion/06brooks.html?hp
>
> "As the world gets richer, demand will rise for the sorts of products
> Americans are great at providing — emotional experiences. Educated Americans
> grow up in a culture of moral materialism; they have their sensibilities
> honed by complicated shows like “The Sopranos,” “The Wire” and “Mad Men,”
> and they go on to create companies like Apple, with identities coated in
> moral and psychological meaning, which affluent consumers crave."
>
> To quote Frank Sobotka from "The Wire": "You know what the trouble is
> Brucey? We used to make shit in this country, build shit. Now we just put
> our hand in the next guy's pocket."

Countering immaterialist hucksterism with Fordist productivist nostalgia? Yeesh.

Don't get me wrong: the second season of The Wire is fucking
magisterial, but I think it's better to follow the show and criticize
Sobotka, not valorize him.