Ventura musta read Emanuel Todd's book

[Harry Edwards]

I know nothing of Emanuel Todd and, as I previously wrote, am no fan of 
Ventura. But I strongly question your contention that the statistics 
are either "bogus" or "contentious." You offer no proof for this 
contention. Attacking Todd's thinking accomplishes little. This column 
is about the average American's muddle-headed thinking that we're "No. 
1" in everything. As you will notice if you reread each statistic, each 
one is specifically (parenthetically) documented (no reference to E. 
Todd). There are a small few with vague basis in fact, but the majority 
of the statistics are solid.

Oddly enough, I agree with you that they "don't add up to the reality 
of life in the US." This is true because this "reality" is the 
aforementioned No. 1 dominant paradigm in America. Don't confuse us 
with facts.

Who cares if Michael Ventura has read Emanuel Todd? Quite obviously, 
the column wasn't derived from a book. None of us is "forced to read" 
Ventura's writing which is why I nearly missed this one and also why I 
sent it out to my Ghetto sisters and brothers with some overlapping in 
this case. These facts ought to startle all of us. If you want to write 
about the statistics, please do, but enough with the obfuscation and 
bullshit.

twisty dodds




On Jan 21, 2005, at 8:04 AM, Michael Eisenstadt wrote:

> Emanuel Todd is an intellectually dishonest French
>  sociologist whose recent book The End of Empire is
>  available in English.
>  
> Some of Ventura's/Todd's statistics are bogus, the rest
> are tendentious. They don't add up to the reality
> of life in the US.
>  
> The basic argument is that America, compared to Europe,
> is parasitical in the sense that Americans dont
>  really work or have jobs. Todd "proves" this by
>  reference to our international trade deficit. This
>  is a bogus conclusion. Todd like so many other
> talking/writing heads is an ignoramus about
> economics and outsourcing. Paul Krugman whose
>  politics we all agree with has written several books
>  explaining international trading monetary theory. The
>  theory itself is counter-intuitive and not easy to grasp.
> A country's trade deficit does not make their citizens 
> parasites on the rest of the world.
>   
> As for the rich exploiting their workers and the latter's
> immiseration, that is a fact of life everywhere and is
>  not confined to only rich Americans doing it.
>  
> Ventura's retread of Todd's book belongs where
> we actually find it: in the Austin Chronicle. He
> writes his articles at 3am in the morning  or so he
>  says. That is an amusing conceit which excuses
>  much. Unfortunately most of us are forced to read
>  him during the day
>  
>  
>