Monday, January 16, 2012

Look, This is Not Complicated

Let's spell it out.

If you are invited to go on the Jon Stewart Show, you should go. It will be fun, Jon asks softball questions, it will be great, you will get to talk about your book

If, on the other hand, John Oliver, or Asif Mandvi, or Jason Jones, want to talk to you, just laugh at loud and hang up the phone. Do NOT talk to them. Do not do an interview. Do not even answer questions in writing. They already have an angle. They are smarter than you are, or at least they will seem smarter after they finish editing the interview.

Why do otherwise smart people convince themselves that they are going to be anything other than reamed? Froma Harrop is revealed here to be an unbelievable hypocrite and a self-important fool.
She just couldn't believe anyone could disagree with her, and be anything but a "terrorist." She even goes so far as to say that that was NOT a metaphor. She meant it literally: disagree with me, and you are a terrorist. Didn't we all make fun of George Bush when he tried that same stupid line?

Now, I have always just thought Froma Harrop was another economically illiterate lefty journalista. Given that she never took any actual courses in college, it's not her fault.

But.... it turns out she is actually a really, really scary lady. Thanks, Jon Stewart, and thanks to John Oliver! Don't ever call me, by the way. I won't answer, John O.

Lagniappe: From Wikipedia.... Harrop is the President of the National Conference of Editorial Writers. One project of the NCEW is the Civility Project, aimed at restoring civility to America's public discourse. Her position was criticized by the Wall Street Journal, which noted the contrast between this role and her comparison of the Tea Party to terrorist groups such as al-Qaida. In her response to the criticism, Harrop stated, "I see incivility as not letting other people speak their piece." She subsequently deleted all the comments from the post and shut down the commenting feature of her blog.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too enjoyed the segment immensely, but Bob Murphy (IIRC) commented that he thought she was just playing along, which seems plausible in hindsight.

Pelsmin said...

She may have been playing along, but the facts is the facts. She is most definitely the head of The Civility Project. She absolutely called the Tea Partiers terrorists.

If the Daily Show spent, say, half their time puncturing the lefties, instead of focusing on the dopes of the right, the show would be at least twice as funny.

Unfortunately, their mission seems to be using humor to advance a political position, instead of politics to enhance their humor.

Brad Hutchings said...

Totally staged. She gets face time on a national show. Bonus points for calling right wingers idiots. Full of win for Ms. Harrop. Her "honey badger" moment.

Tom said...

Brad's theory of "staging" doesn't bear up. Note the last (red) part of the post: Harrop stated, "I see incivility as not letting other people speak their piece." She subsequently deleted all the comments from the post and shut down the commenting feature of her blog.

It seems her whole life is staged... to make her look pompous. Self aware? Nah!