I'm taking the day off. This is an open thread. The floor is yours. I'll be approving comments (or not) as they come in.
If you need something to talk about, it came to my attention that popular progressive blogger Atrios (Duncan Black) of Eschaton fame recently named New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, aka. The Moustache of Understanding, his wanker of the decade. A wanker is vulgar British slang for—
1. A person who masturbates
2. A detestable person
I assume Atrios was using sense #2. It seems to me that calling Tom Friedman wanker of the decade attributes far more importance to this douchebag than he deserves.
Though the common douchebag thinks he is accepted by the people around him, most of his peers dislike him. He has an inflated sense of self-worth, compounded by a lack of social grace and self-awareness. He behaves inappropriately in public, yet is completely ignorant to how pathetic he appears to others.
Friedman's book The World Is Flat created great "excitement" when it came out, as all such mediocre, uninsightful efforts do for a short time—this is called marketing. The buzz was hot and heavy after Tom's publisher changed his original title for the book, which was My Electroencephalogram Is Flat (left).
So, who is your wanker of the decade? I believe the word "decade" in this context referred to the 10th anniversary of Eschaton, so let's extend the time period to the beginning of the current century.
Who is your wanker of the 21st century? (so far)
Have a nice weekend.