I hate Thomas Friedman. He's such a massive, overwhelming idiot, everything he says and writes is equally traumatic and aggravating; he's got all the insight of Donald Rumsfeld, and the style, verve and charm of Bob Saget back when he hosted America's Funniest Home Videos. He blows. He vindicates Oswald Spengler. He's like Baghdad Bob, except from some angles he sort of reminds me of Allama Iqbal, except when he was very young his parents dropped a bowling ball on his head which has resulted in his deformed retard output.
I want to be on a cruise ship with Thomas, just so I can throw him overboard, and then celebrate at some onboard restaurant. Not only is he full of s*it, he doesn't realize he's full of s*it -- the things he says are so incredibly unrewarding, uninteresting and monstrously constructed, it's terrifying, it gives the lie to anyone who pretends that mainstream media is full of significant discussion. This man is a butthead, but he's got an NYT column. He writes supposed bestsellers, but he rarely, if ever, sheds any new light on any situation. He's more likely to start talking about floodlights and wattage than substantively answer any questions. (Really. He'll be like, "What's really going on in Iraq? We need to build a floodlight to see the bad guys lurking in the dark corners, because I'm a stupid idiot)
Today, he was being interviewed by Wolf Blitzer on CNN and he said something not only fantastically racist, but egregiously stupid. He completely missed the point of the discussion, which is not surprising for someone who titles his book The World is Flat and thinks that that's witty.
Check out this exchange:
BLITZER: Here's what Ahmadinejad said the other day as far as Israel is concerned. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is approaching its end. The Zionist regime is a dying tree, and soon its branches will all be broken down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLITZER: Is he serious about trying to eliminate the state of Israel?
FRIEDMAN: I wouldn't rule anything out with this character. I think he's a really sick, bad guy. But let's remember one good thing, Wolf. [Enter stupid reference to something entirely unrelated]. This guy couldn't make a light bulb, OK? You're talking about a dying society? You know, Israel's a society of growth and innovation and entrepreneurship. All this guy can do is drill an oil well. So you talk about dying societies? I'll pick the people who can invent the future, not people who can't make a light bulb.
You stupid racist s*it, are you even paying attention? Firstly, how can you invent the future?
Tom: "What are you doing, Bob?"
Bob Saget: "I'm inventing the future!"
Tom: "Here, let me help you."
Secondly, this guy can't make a light bulb? He's President. He's not a light bulb manufacturer. You can't make a dumbass transition from President to Society based on something that's irrelevant to the Presidency to begin with.
Thirdly, the whole reason you were allowed to say something that retarded, on national television, about all of Iran is precisely because Iran can potentially build a lot more than a light bulb. But I repeat myself. The world shunned Iran in 1979, but even then they figured out how to develop long-range missiles, tanks, warplanes, new naval technology, communications satellites and the potential for nuclear weapons program which is the precise reason Ahmedinajad is verbally smacking Israel.
(Saying they have foreign assistance is like saying the US couldn't do the nuke without Nazi Germany pushing out the smart Jewish scientists. Of course other countries get help. That doesn't mean Djibouti could be on the verge of nuclear power in 5-10 years. [Sorry any Djiboutian readers. I love you and your strange colonial excuse for a military base country]). Not to mention Iran's incredibly vigorous film industry, rich literary tradition, high literacy rate.... thud...
He doesn't even know why he's on TV. So why is he on TV?
(Just to add something, as a chemical engineer, I can assure you that drilling an oil well is not as simple as this guy makes it seems.)
