I still prefer Alistair
Matthew Engel is leaving America, aiming one last trademark, supercilious kick at the "cybermorons" who have criticized him for cluelessness about his ostensible area of expertise.
As he has discovered, Americans are a funny, inscrutable bunch: no matter how much well-earned disdain you heap upon them, and even as you dedicate your life to documenting how stupid and ludicrous they are, you still run into a friendly one every now and then.
Engel's final anecdote about his final encounter with his final ordinary American woman stands as a kind of encapsulation or epitome of his view of America, following the same pattern as countless other anecdotes that have appeared in his column over the past two years: he believes she is too stupid to realize that he is making fun of her.
I may be a cybermoron, but I doubt it. When your culture dominates most of the world, it's no big deal to smile at a pugnacious, condescending journalist who is in a constant state of sputtering rage over your unfathomably poor taste in art, condiments, and wine. Take a pill, Matt. Enjoy Pyongyang.
(Emily Jones, three days into her "Free Dr. Frank" hunger strike, fisks the whole column here.)
Posted by Dr. Frank at June 3, 2003 09:41 AM | TrackBack