Comments on: Ouch

By: derrida derider

derrida derider — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 23:40:26 +0000

Yeah, a variant of an old joke (Bright Young Thing to Tallulah Bankhead “I liked your new book. Who wrote it for you?” Bankhead: “Oh, I’m so glad you liked it. Who read it to you?”).

But still, well phrased and very apposite.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 23:32:50 +0000

I mean, I’m about to send off a paper that contains a bit of bluffing about literature I haven’t read as thoroughly as I ought, but I wouldn’t admit that on the internet. That’s just hubris.

By: Matt Weiner

Matt Weiner — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 23:02:50 +0000

Nat, the joke may be stale, but I think Goldberg is an unusually apposite target for it. He seems to have admitted that he wasn’t going to read some specific stuff that the book required him to read. Maybe he was just sloppy with his anaphora, but that reads different from “I read the Spencer, but I’m no expert, so I want to pick your brains to see if I’m way off base.”

Not that I think this is a big deal—Goldberg’s lack of knowledge of Spencer is surely the least of this book’s flaws.

By: Nat Whilk

Nat Whilk — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:27:13 +0000

This is the same sort of silliness that goes on on fan boards for (American) college football teams. Stale jokes are perceived as funny when targeted at fans/players/coaches of Rival U., even if they have no substantial basis in reality. Whether you care to admit it or not, Jonah has read lots of books. He does bleg a lot, but those blegs aren’t for others to read or write for him but for academics like us to look up things for him for free using our connections. So say that Jonah uses NRO readers as free research assistants if you like. It’s not as mean as saying that he hasn’t read a book, but it at least as the advantage of having some truth to it, in case that matters to you.

By: Simstim

Simstim — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 12:24:55 +0000

I prefer Garth Marenghi's boast that he's "written more books than he's read."

By: H.O.F.

H.O.F. — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 10:41:08 +0000

Yeah, but not much of one.

By: abb1

abb1 — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 07:56:14 +0000

Shouldn’t he have to read one, first?

He is not a reader, he’s a writer.

By: Martin James

Martin James — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 05:30:49 +0000

Cute cover.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 03:29:11 +0000

I imagine the book will fill a needed gap in the literature on fascism.

By: Seth Finkelstein

Seth Finkelstein — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 03:02:46 +0000

Iron Lungfish: He’s already mastered “Ignorance Is Strength”, so “liberals are Nazis” is a snap (as well as “Up Is Down” and “Black Is White”).

By: scott mclemee

scott mclemee — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 02:48:20 +0000

I don’t think Henry is saying “ouch” at perceiving any Algonquin Round Table-quality in my squib, as such—but rather at the gasbaggery of its target.

As somebody else put it, Goldberg seems to find Cliff’s Notes taxing.

By: FMguru

FMguru — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 02:31:32 +0000

And who’s writing it?

Judging by his “blegging” on NRO, it looks like his readers wrote about 80% of it. I always wondered if that Tom Sawyer/Whitewash trick would work in real life. Apparently, it does.

By: Hei Lun Chan

Hei Lun Chan — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 02:12:02 +0000

I’ve never seen someone make that joke before. Henry must be easy to please if he thinks that deserves an “ouch”.

By: Iron Lungfish

Iron Lungfish — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 02:09:13 +0000

This summer, Jonah Goldberg is publishing a book.

This is the one about how liberals are Nazis because they don’t want to torture people, invade other countries at random, and allow for massive, unchecked executive power, right?

By: Seth Finkelstein

Seth Finkelstein — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:54:36 +0000

And who’s writing it?