I'll keep this one short. I just came across some absolutely mind-boggling stupidity, and so, of course, I thought I'd share it with you! Have you ever heard of Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist for the great and mighty New York Times? This savant, apparently, has a "Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention". He wrote about it first in his column in December 1996, and repeated it in a book he wrote, called "The Lexus and the Olive Tree". Here it comes ... (could we get a drum roll?) ... the man believes that no two countries that have a McDonald's ever fight a war against each other! (You have no idea how much I wanted to add on at least eight or nine more exclamation marks, but I restrained myself.) At the time the book came into print, the U.S. air force was bombing Belgrade, where there were seven branches of McDonald's happily serving up those quarter pounders. Not to be daunted, when this seeming anomaly was pointed out to him, he was able to 'explain' how this war was just the exception that proved his rule!
This man has actually been awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
This man has actually been awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
1 Comments:
Freidman theory actually makes some sense, although it trivializes the causes of war and, well, it's plain dumb to use McDonald's as a way of explaining 'his theory.' 'His theory' -- it's not even his theory. It's a basic economic assumption, that's part of most Macroeconomics 101 courses. The basic premise is that if two nations become co-dependent on each other, they are less likely to go to war -- for example, America is dependent on middle east oil, so when Bush bombs the hell out of them, oil prices rise in America -- so why would Bush ever want to bomb Iraq?
Friedman extrapolates on this premise, and in our 30-second-attention-span society, finds a quick pop culture sound bite -- a catch phrase -- and attempts to hijack an economic premise as his own creation. What a dumbass. The fact that he's won a Pulitzer Prize, and has garnered so much press for 'his theory' is further proof of the moronization of society (that's my attempt at creating a pop culture sound bite that will get me admiration from the moron-pack! <-- ooh! another one!).
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