Peggy Noonan lost me a few years back. I can’t even remember what it was now, but at one point I read one of her books, and then...what was it? I don’t even think it was that she was kissing up to Obama, I think it was before that, but I cannot remember.
Whatever it was, it made me discount her as completely meaningless. Not to say this content is. It is kind of like getting food poisoning. If you eat a bad eclair, you will have an aversion to them the rest of your life, even if you don’t remember why.
I had a similar reaction, which is one of the reasons I posted this. How does she think we got to this point? How about being honest about what is happening in society. Like it or not, a huge swath of our society defines itself in accordance with what is on TV, what music is popular, what is on the nightly news, what those ‘in the know’ say, and generally by what is ‘in vogue’ at the moment.
For years and years those with a societal/cultural soapbox - like the ‘journalists’, and the ‘entertainers’, and the ‘academics’, and the TV news anchors, and the people putting together advertising themes, and of course the politicians, and others who could all be expected to be represented at the Manhattan cocktail parties alluded to - have all abdicated their societal responsibilities. To some extent, this may have happened because we let people who were not ‘the best and the brightest’, but who were the most narcissistic and ruthless, attain the stature that gave them their soapboxes.
Whatever the reason, it is offensive that those people who have acted irresponsibly are now pontificating on the fall of American society. Along those lines, it was absolutely irresponsible for Peggy Noonan to back Obama without honestly and truthfully vetting him. It wasn't just poor judgment, it was irresponsible.