Brooks commits the same logical error so common to modern conservatism: situation X must be either A or B. The relationship between culture and economy is circular and self-reinforcing (Ol' Davey needs to bone up on his Habermas, despite however much that may sound like a vulgar euphemism). I can't believe that Brooks gets paid as much as he does simply to restate the chicken-and-egg quandary in 750 words or less. And get it wrong, to boot.
Aside: as I see it, the egg came first, since the mutation that led to what we now consider chickens didn't exist in the neanderchicken that laid the first egg containing pollo sapiens.
Hmmm, reminds me of that Pete Shelley song:
Pollo superior
In my interior
But from the skin out
I'm pollo sapien too
That reminds me of the best political bumper sticker ever. Alluding to the Goldwater slogan and to Jimmy Carter's admission that, in his heart, he had committed adultery, the anti-Carter slogan read: "In his heart he knew your wife."
I can't believe that Brooks gets paid as much as he does simply to restate the chicken-and-egg quandary in 750 words or less. And get it wrong, to boot.
No shit. I can do that for a small fraction of the price ("small fraction" being Rumsfeld-speak for "about half"). Thanks, I was looking for something to occupy me after graduation.
Oh, that was me up there. It does appear however that my practice in hackery is going to be actively discouraged by Fontanta.