friedman (WAS: internet & social control)

[The Great Quail]

MalignD writes,

> For the record, I'm not a particular fan of Friedman's
> and I found his comments, posted here, re WMDs
> regrettable and wrong.  But to dismiss him as an
> apologist ignores much that he's written about Iraq
> that's highly critical of the Bush administration,
> particularly the woeful state of the post-war
> operation.

I agree with Malign on this one. I read all of Friedman's books, and I
usually read his columns. While his personality can be, at times, grating,
and I certainly understand why the far Lefties on the List find his politics
reproachable, he is still a left-leaning moderate with a lot of sharp
criticism for politics-as-they-are. Although I don't always agree with him,
he usually writes something worth reading.

And I think it is ludicrous to compare him to Pynchon, by the way. But then
a lot of the conversations around here have been ludicrous lately. "Pale
Fire" is starting to look increasingly more relevant to, if not Pynchon, at
least the Pynchon List.

--Quail