no it is not good journalism. notes (and if anybody can tell me how to get blank lines in here, lemme know :-) hey Fab - glad you were inspired by the column. I had very serious issues with it, so I thought I'd try and get them out: 1. it is sloppy and poorly argued. "we have gone from a culture that reminds people of their own limitations to a culture that encourages people to think highly of themselves". really? is there any evidence for that apart from the usual suspects of "kids on facebook" and heinous reality TV shows? I could equally argue that those things are the result of people thinking poorly about themselves and desperately trying to find an identity, any identity, in a world which is very largely controlled by corporations forcing an identity on them. I don't know if I'm right, but if Brooks was being truely modest, he wouldnt state his basic argument as a fact. it isn't a fact. it's an opinion, not backed up even by anecdote. moreover, it happens to be a moderate conservative opinion, which he doesn't cop to. "children are raised amid a chorus of applause". really? not the ones I know. sure, absolutely kids get more positive feedback than they did 30 years ago. I think that's a great thing. and I think the twenty-somethings I know who've been raised like that are often emotionally balanced in a way my generation (raised 30 years ago) couldn't even dream of. again, I could be wrong. but Brooks, again, not being modest, simply states it as a fact. and, again, it's an opinion, and, again it's an opinion a moderate conservative would take as a given. oh, and if you're going to rail on pro athletes, I wouldn't choose baseball. I've seen dozens of home runs in the late few years, and I've never, ever seen a baseball player "celebrate themselves". they don't. it's against the culture of the game. again, Brooks just dumps it out there like he's writing a first draft. if you're going down the "athletes today are self-absorbed assholes" route - which itself is a tired and lazy meme - at least quote some decent anecdotes (hey, LeBron James is right there!). 2. it's an entirely disingenuous article. it posits "civility" as something that is lacking in general, not specific to the right wing. it posits lack of civility as the problem, not violent rhetoric - far beyond "lack of civility" - and the ability of insane people to buy automatic weapons. it doesn't mention that Obama has been rigorously and almost defiantly civil, and has been pissed-on, ridiculed and mercilessly verbally abused for his efforts. it is all couched as "these are things reasonable people can agree on", when, in fact, they are not. example: "there will have to be a bipartisan project like comprehensive tax reform to get people conversing again". really? why tax reform? why not closing down guantanamo in a bipartisan fashion, or actually deciding to abide by the health reform law? or a bipartisan group to reduce defense spending by, say 5% a year? or just having a bipartisan group state, unequivocally, that Obama is an American citizen and he should be respected as such? why tax reform? well, because "tax reform" is a big issue for the right (and by "tax reform" they don't mean a more progressive tax regime, which would support social justice - they mean lower taxes, primarily for the wealthy - capital gains repeal, anybody?). so. of course we all agree that being more modest and open in our conversations and interactions is a good thing, and OK if you read the article that way and get something out of it, then fine. unfortunately, this article is not in any way modest or open and in my mind is the worst kind of dishonest and sloppy opinion writing.