In his review of Daniel Pinchbeck’s 2012, Jarhead author Anthony Swofford writes:
Pinchbeck’s thinking suffers from the deep navel-gazing that comes so naturally to this son of urban humanist materialist liberals, the very class he disparages for their atheism, passivity and greed. Not that he is off the mark. Most of the people who once sang Beatles anthems and marched for civil rights are now more concerned with the stock market and real estate — not to mention the quality of the new sod job at the golf course — than with world peace or the welfare of indigenous peoples. But haven’t we known this for at least two decades?
– The New York Times Book Review, June 18, 2006
Based on this passage, which of the following statements appear to be true?
A. Liberals have really deep navels.
B. Urban humanist materialist sods tend to be liberal.
C. David Brooks better watch his back.
D. All of the above.
7 Comments on "Pop Quiz"
Comandante Agi:
That paragraph consists of clutter and useless jargon, not meaningful language. I would assume that Swofford has never read Orwell’s Politics and the English Language .
Rod:
So, I’m just checking: is it ok not to have a clue what he’s talking about here?
Matt:
One could say, at the least, that you’d be right on Swofford’s wavelength.
Rod:
That hurts, Matt. That really hurts.
Eli:
So, I’m just checking: is it ok not to have a clue what he’s talking about here?
Yeah, that was the option I would have picked. I’m not sure if he’s saying liberals are bad, or rich Baby Boomer sellouts are bad.
jmorrison:
Slightly off-topic:
I must say I find the popular skewering of the post-hippy baby-boomers somewhat… troublesome. Not because they didn’t sell out their own ideals and become exactly what they railed against, because, of course, en mass, they did, but rather because, statistically speaking, that seems to be what every generation does. Youth is youth and age is age in any generation.
The reason then that the Boomers get SO mercilessly prodded and poked about it is that they were SO visible and vocal in their youthful rebellion.
Following this logic the only way to avoid becoming a sad, pathetic, hypocritical shadow of your young idealistic self is to never bother trying in the first place; that way when you turn out to be a selfish ol’ coot with your head lodged dangerously deep in your own ass, no one can call foul.
Make sense?
Eli:
Following this logic the only way to avoid becoming a sad, pathetic, hypocritical shadow of your young idealistic self is to never bother trying in the first place; that way when you turn out to be a selfish ol’ coot with your head lodged dangerously deep in your own ass, no one can call foul.
I see you figured out my plan.
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