A month ago David Brooks had no idea who Jeremy Lin was, and now he's found the bandwagon and firmly planted his ass on it. Having apparently Googled a couple 2010 Jeremy Lin interviews, he has become an expert on yet another topic, ready to be printed for his discerning pan-intellectual Times' readers. From neuroscience to Newt Gingrich, from gerrymandering to Jeremy Lin, from best practices in parenting to Pontius Pilate, David Brooks wants to make it clear: he is an EXPERT. Where you see a pastime, he sees....let me guess? Mmm. Religion. Biology. Group-dynamics. Tension. And my God, look at that dunk- full of such complications and problems galore. If he makes a 6 game winning streak in basketball this complicated, God help us on weightier issues- like boxers or briefs, or Palestinian statehood. If one had the chore of negotiating peace with David Brooks, it would be hard to agree on a place to meet, we would get hung up on the religious-cultural morasse that is the Holiday Inn Convention Center versus the airport Sheraton.
It's not a little ironic that he writes an article contrasting the (as he apparently sees it) supposed tension between sport and the Christian teachings of humility, when David Brooks shows as much humility in journalism as Lebron James does in a contract negotiation. He is a lecturer on, well, every subject. He should point his great new insight on sports and religion out stat to the the numerous athletically dominant religious schools, like Texas Christian or Notre Dame, not to mention the many religious owners of pro sports' teams, League Commissioners, and the majority of coaches, who apparently have never thought to reconcile their beliefs with the sports they love. David must point it out to them so they know!
But yet he just can't resist the attention that is out there for him to grab. Jeremy Lin is capturing the headlines, so David Brooks had to run it down- ambulance chasing applied to the editorial page. The fact that he sees Jeremy Lin, an incredible, if not uplifting, sports story as a "problem" shows how totally removed he is from the topic he's forced himself upon- bringing that patented New York Times intellectual constipation to the topic of a streaky NBA player*. Face it David, you would sooner refer to your pants as Knickerbockers than catch their game on a Friday night. When everyone else is getting a refill of popcorn and enjoying the show, Brooks has locked himself in a stall under the bleachers shitting mental bricks. If there is such a thing as a "Jeremy Lin Problem" then there is also the "problem of the sunny day" and the "problem of sexual orgasm". Oh what a difficult world this must be to inhabit! David: it's not some intellectual riddle, and it has nothing to do with the Middle East- it's a game kids play in Kindergarten and millions of people crack open a six pack and relax to at the end of a long day. That's what the NBA is designed for dude: entertainment. Turn your fixation on pseudo-philosophical frameworks, and compulsive need to be an armchair scholar, towards a topic where it would actually matter. David Brooks, Bringing ESPN issues to the PBS crowd.
This isn't about sports or religion, or the two blended together in some weird mental smoothie, it's about David Brooks having to inject himself into everything. And this is more than just annoying, it's a growing problem in reporting and modern media. I don't want the same fucking person putting the current election in context and writing on western democracy, also covering the local ceramics beat and sports franchise. This is dangerous because the person who does this is by definition a dilettante, dabbling in a bit of whatever stokes their ego for the week. And weighty topics like democracy or war and peace or community or religion, are far too important to be given the half-time efforts of a journalist who plays mix and match, ironically as if he were some sort of journalistic God.
*Note: I am a NYT reader and fan, but let's face it, they sometimes overextend.
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