Her uncle was Alexander Cockburn (RIP). I was an avid reader of the WSJ for a number of years, and they had him as an ed page contributor for a while.
He was completely stuck on stupid. He had to be on the other, crazy side of anything and everything. Even if he was on the correct side of an issue, it was for the wrong reason(s), being able to find "just comeuppance" in being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
He'd probably chastise Wilde for associating with the hoi polloi on the subway.
Her grandfather, Claude Cockburn, was a Communist back in the 1930s. Olivia's parents were also left-wing writers.
Yet her former husband was some kind of Italian prince. I guess it's the "think left, live right" idea -- so many on the left make sure they have enough money to throw around.
He was completely stuck on stupid. He had to be on the other, crazy side of anything and everything. Even if he was on the correct side of an issue, it was for the wrong reason(s), being able to find "just comeuppance" in being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That was part of the fun. There are millions of people who's view on, say, global warming is a function of a simple ideological package that they share with millions of other people.
Somebody, say, who's very far left, but skeptical of theories of man-made climate change, just might be worth listening to.