Also too, and I think related, there's this weird idea that planning and preparation are unmanly and that real leaders - i.e., real men leaders - shoot from the hip, go with their gut, following their instincts, etc. It's doubly bullshit since the people who actually exercise control over much of our lives are uniformly planners, because that's how you get anything done, let alone anything major or important or complicated. But it's an ideology that permits would-be macho buffoons to get elected and, as you point out, allows the rest of us (or at least the male of us) to treat our own lack of planning and preparation and competence as positive manly virtues.
Sing it loud! I share the frustration expressed in your rant, perhaps mostly because it draws focus on (what I think is) a more basic, broad-based problem with American society in general, and with MAGAts in particular. The sad fact is that in nearly every field of American industry, incompetence literally abounds.
Lack of attention to detail is the rule, not the exception. From a president who is unable to construct a coherent sentence, to the mid-level managers who can't be bothered to make their handwritten memos legible, all the way down to the kid at your local pizza place for whom getting your order right is a low priority, incompetence is pervasive.
With that in mind, I think the answer to your question "Since when is it any kind of virtue for people at the very highest levels of government to be phoning it in?" is pretty obvious; it is not a "virtue" per se, but it's politically attractive to people with the "eh, that's good enough" mindset. It gives socially acceptable cover to their laziness, and does not challenge them to go the extra inch, at virtually anything.
Well, SER just hit on one of my favorite yelling points: here in WV, most HAAAATED Obama, COAL KILLER! I'll not go down THAT rabbit hole (I have ,tho, loudly & in faces, my ass was born & raised in Pittsburgh, aka NO LONGER THE STEEL CITY BUT DOING JUST FINE, THANX) - but Obama's policies were DESIGNED for this place. He just WOULD NOT stop with the being black though. SAD!!
No Douthat he sits in a corner and shits on everyone's ideas (or does he shit in the corner and sit on everyone's ideas?) Either way, now all we need is a pic of him with the big fancy hat (preferably with little hoses coming out of it, going into both of his ears) and we will have co-authored a hybrid meme that's sure to go viral!
Sometimes I suspect I might have some sort of rare, undocumented form of lysdexia; every time I see the name "Douthat" in print, I read it variably as either "Doubt that" or "Douche-hat". Weird.
If there is any doubt among my fellow Wonketeers that Ross Douthat is NOT a certified windbag, as devoid of intelligence as he is of charisma, please let me know.
Trump announces that the White House will adopt the policies favored by the late Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz which are designed to lure the darkies over to the GOP.
I see Doughnut, but that probably say more about me than it does about him.
Also too, and I think related, there's this weird idea that planning and preparation are unmanly and that real leaders - i.e., real men leaders - shoot from the hip, go with their gut, following their instincts, etc. It's doubly bullshit since the people who actually exercise control over much of our lives are uniformly planners, because that's how you get anything done, let alone anything major or important or complicated. But it's an ideology that permits would-be macho buffoons to get elected and, as you point out, allows the rest of us (or at least the male of us) to treat our own lack of planning and preparation and competence as positive manly virtues.
Sing it loud! I share the frustration expressed in your rant, perhaps mostly because it draws focus on (what I think is) a more basic, broad-based problem with American society in general, and with MAGAts in particular. The sad fact is that in nearly every field of American industry, incompetence literally abounds.
Lack of attention to detail is the rule, not the exception. From a president who is unable to construct a coherent sentence, to the mid-level managers who can't be bothered to make their handwritten memos legible, all the way down to the kid at your local pizza place for whom getting your order right is a low priority, incompetence is pervasive.
With that in mind, I think the answer to your question "Since when is it any kind of virtue for people at the very highest levels of government to be phoning it in?" is pretty obvious; it is not a "virtue" per se, but it's politically attractive to people with the "eh, that's good enough" mindset. It gives socially acceptable cover to their laziness, and does not challenge them to go the extra inch, at virtually anything.
Well, SER just hit on one of my favorite yelling points: here in WV, most HAAAATED Obama, COAL KILLER! I'll not go down THAT rabbit hole (I have ,tho, loudly & in faces, my ass was born & raised in Pittsburgh, aka NO LONGER THE STEEL CITY BUT DOING JUST FINE, THANX) - but Obama's policies were DESIGNED for this place. He just WOULD NOT stop with the being black though. SAD!!
That's what "voters" means. If you didn't bother to show up to vote, then ... not a voter.
I know, the only reason I don't give $$$$$ at tax time is because my income is low.
No Douthat he sits in a corner and shits on everyone's ideas (or does he shit in the corner and sit on everyone's ideas?) Either way, now all we need is a pic of him with the big fancy hat (preferably with little hoses coming out of it, going into both of his ears) and we will have co-authored a hybrid meme that's sure to go viral!
It's kind of cheating.
^^ This wins EVERY naming contest.
I'm not black, but I like your "bursting into flame" idea.
I read it as doubt hat. Like he sits in the corner with a big fancy hat and shits on everyone’s ideas.
Sometimes I suspect I might have some sort of rare, undocumented form of lysdexia; every time I see the name "Douthat" in print, I read it variably as either "Doubt that" or "Douche-hat". Weird.
If there is any doubt among my fellow Wonketeers that Ross Douthat is NOT a certified windbag, as devoid of intelligence as he is of charisma, please let me know.
Noice.
Trump announces that the White House will adopt the policies favored by the late Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz which are designed to lure the darkies over to the GOP.
I love math, too. Calculus? It's an abomination against god and all that is holy. I'm not even sure it's math.