Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal (2004)

Alright, to be fair, I read Ms. Cox's article, then Ms. Noonan's, and I'm bewildered by Ms. Noonan's illogic. There is smut and violence in pop culture because it is a lucrative proposition. Would Ms. Noonan care to know what my uber-liberal friends and I watch on TV? I do not watch TV at all. My friends watch ballet, the BBC, Law & Order, or Front Line. I have an idea: we could replace the media oligopoly with an American version of the BBC or the CBC.

I wonder what is the political affiliation of the majority of CEOs at GE or Clearchannel Communications?

Another thing: Ms. Noonan in another column advised Democrats that they really had to learn to like Americans. Apparently liberals are imagined to find ourselves distasteful, and non-liberal Americans still more so. What if Noam Chomsky were to say, "Why was the [vulgarity] of the Super Bowl so obnoxious? Our culture has been sick for a while--highly sexualized, violent, inspirational to the unstable" in Noonan's presence? She'd no doubt write that this proves his "ilk" hates America.

No sophistication is required to understand the pleasure -- even if it's just pleasure in shock, which is not a lesser sort -- of seeing a beautiful breast unexpectedly uncovered on live television. None. It is only a breast, and breasts, by design, are meant to be loved. So it pains me to see such featherweight philosophers as Peg Noonan, speechwriter to presidents and moralist for millions, see in Janet's breast the end of our civilization. "I am disturbed about our culture and can't stop thinking about it. I'm embarrassed by our culture too, and made anxious by it. Aren't you?"

The short answer: No, I'm not. A breast is no marker for catastrophe. Why make so much of a tit? How does it hurt Peg Noonan to see this flash of flesh -- what possible pain could this cause a woman such as she? The question needs not be asked, because there is no possible answer. There is nothing about Janet's Jackson's naked breast that need threaten Peg Noonan's sacred civilization. Janet, I have one request of you: Let's see the other one.

James r. mclean,

I couldn't agree more. and Robert Sore, well, I kind of agree. The sight of a woman's breast isn't really very upsetting to me, but Janet's doesn't thrill me either. What I'd love to see is some unreconstructed, down to the knees with baby chewing, let it all hang out women's breasts up there on stage. But hey, like every other liberal I know, I had better things to do (reading Jack Beatty's life of James Micheal Curely, watching old buffy reruns, etc...) than watch the superbowl at all.

Kate Gilbert

speaking as a liberal, i'm happy to say that i watched the super bowl, but as always, i wandered off at halftime so as to avoid the show.

speaking as a normal human being, yes, peggy noonan is exceptionally deranged.

Vas is das "Manchester Guardian"? It hasn't been in Manchester, or called that, for decades.

Ah yes pro football cheerleaders and beer commercials are far worse than 2 seconds of nipple. Then there were the XFL cheerleaders and the unusual camera angles.

Poor Peggy. If only those uptight prudes so shocked about sex education would spend 5 minutes in the back of a school bus. They would understand that anything acceptable in the classroom must be tame in comparison.

I think Noonan is right! What could be more wholesome that football to keep children in their not-knowingness? It teaches them good values and self control. You can look at all those coaches under tremendous pressure saying "yuck!" and "shoot!" and "goshdang!" How many of us have self-control like that? Sometimes they refer to the refs and opposing players as being "rubberducking" but I guess that is some kind of football term I don't understand. I like baseball, but let's not go there. It has problems, they need to airbrush out the player's *** when they scratch.

So, yes, the halftime incident was trashy and weird, but no more so than the messages sent by the beer ads. And the Ditka male sexual dysfunction symbol was a little weird too. Will a not-knowing child ever be able to sit in a humble tire swing again and remain not-knowing? A frightening thought.

There's a metaphor here someplace, but once I figure it out, I will keep it to myself

>>Vas is das "Manchester Guardian"? It hasn't been in Manchester, or called that, for decades.<<

My core identity is as an economic historian. I live in the past, mostly.

The last fully functional Concorde is parked 15 minutes from my house. We can use it to go over and enlighten Lord Hutton on liberal attitudes.

We'll probably have to pack a lunch.

One thermos for coffee.

The other for martinis.

Well, you ffffing liberal elitist snobs, are you happy now? Not only do you look down your noses at the ignorant clods who comprise the vast majority of this great nation, but you do this whilst enjoying wine and brie, reading books (holy fffing sh*t), and attending performances at the Kennedy Center (figures).

And then this. Foisting off JJ's breast at the climax of our national celebration of TV's national pastime. Shame on you. How dare you? All this, just to make a buck. Shocking.

OK. I'm spent. Somebody tell me, please, does she write her columns pro bono? To lean she actually gets paid to write such drivel is well neigh unbearable.

How did the last fully-functional Concorde get to Seattle?

Prof, i believe the answer is the boeing air museum.

The planes in the Boeing Air Museum are all fully functional?

Peggy Noonan is no longer young. Her reaction to today's popular culture is not particularly weird, or perspicacious, or interesting.

I suppose she deserves a fair bit of ridicule for the 9-11 remarks, but the rest of it seems like fairly age-old, older person sentiments. Kind of reminds me of the way I feel sometimes, in response to certain cultural changes (like reality TV shows, or the endless news coverage of murder or abduction cases).

Wonkette isn't exactly TMFTML or anything, but she does make one good point, that the beer commercials are worse (if worse is the right word) than the halftime entertainment....

There's plenty of older folk who feel more or less exactly like Noonan, but will be voting for Kerry this November. I'm not sure if this is a point, or not, but I thought I'd throw it out there....

I think I liked that "ho the toes o'Nemesis!" graph on the Muse better than this manga-like graphics on Wonkette. The Muse graph could have been remade, perhaps, once in a while, gradually building an archive, and even perhaps a cartoon character in time?

The "Economist", has a piece on the tit, with photo.
When did teat become tit?

Ha! Noonan said Jackson would be "fun" and "strange" 'cause he's black! Oh, when will those racist conservatives grow up? Thank goodness Ms. Cox is around to alert us to subtle code words used by conservatives.

Brad: They flew the Concorde to Seattle, setting down at Boeing Field which, by coincidence, is the location of the museum. It's an airplane, remember?

You're invited to check the museum of flight out. Quite a place.

Thanks, bobbyp, for getting the name of the museum, which i misremembered, correct.

prof, i don't know that all of the planes are fully functional, but many are.

How about a show of hands from the usual suspects, how many of you think Michael Jackson is just another "black entertainer"? Like, say, Nat Cole or Ray Charles.

Me think the funiest article this week was:
Did David Hasselhoff really help end the Cold War?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/3465301.stm

Wonkette was not only unfunny, she was unintelligent, if she really interpreted Noonan's passages in the way her misfiring sarcasm purports to.

She lost me at the point where she suggests Noonan's remarks about a Jackson taping were racially motivated. I couldn't take anything seriously after that - it was such a fundamentally stupid thing to write.

You really do have to park your maturity at the curb to buy that type of grade 7 know-it-all snark.

Mr. Sullivan, I don't understand your question, please explain it for me.

P. Sullivan - don't think I qualify as one of the usual suspects (but leftie, I am), but yeah, there's a list of reasons to think that Jackson is odd and strange, and I don't think his race is on it.

My racist family members would be sure to bring his race into the conversation pretty quickly, but who knows if Noonan is similarly afflicted.

So that line was questionable in it's accuracy. I don't think the author is going for accuracy, exactly. Maybe it's fun to kid conservatives about the soft spots (lots of racist bastards in their party, and the party's pandering to such).

But it's kinda like blaming me for Stalin's gulags. It's funny. Sometimes.

No offense to prof. DeLong, but I thought the Adams snippet on Anthony Giddens (just below the Weisman piece)was even funnier...