I read this piece (excerpted below) in the NYT this morning and the top of my head blew off. This pompous ass recalls fondly a young Egyptian girl’s concern over the events unfolding in Tahrir Square, pats her on the head, then flies back to Manhattan to see that everything her instincts told her to worry about did, in fact, come true. Too bad he didn’t INTERVIEW HER like, I dunno, “journalists” being paid by their newspapers to be curious in interesting places OUGHT TO DO!
But that’s just me.
I had a fit in the comments, but I doubt they will publish it. *sigh*
April 12, 2011
Pray. Hope. Prepare.
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
When I was in Cairo during the Egyptian uprising, I wanted to change hotels one day to be closer to the action and called the Marriott to see if it had any openings. The young-sounding Egyptian woman who spoke with me from the reservations department offered me a room and then asked: “Do you have a corporate rate?” I said, “I don’t know. I work for The New York Times.” There was a silence on the phone for a few moments, and then she said: “Can I ask you something?” Sure. “Are we going to be O.K.? I’m worried.” I made a mental note of that conversation because she sounded like a modern person, the kind of young woman who would have been in Tahrir Square. We’re just now beginning to see what may have been gnawing at her — in Egypt and elsewhere. Let’s start with the structure of the Arab state….
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You ARROGANT POMPOUS ASS! That girl at the Marriott SERVES UP A STORY TO YOU on a silver friggin’ platter and you don’t GO INTERVIEW HER?????????? Do you have no natural instincts left AT ALL? You used to accuse GWB of being “incurious” and you blow in from Manhattan thinking you know everything that’s going on on the ground in Cairo and this young Egyptian girl is WAVING A FRIGGIN’ RED FLAG SAYING STOP! Not all is well! AND YOU MAKE A “mental note”????? And then, adding to the UNBELIEVABLE SHAMELESS POMPOSITY of this incurious reaction, you ADMIT IT IN PRINT? “Look at me. I’m a pompous ass from Manhattan an I’M going to TELL this girl in Cairo she’s got NOTHING to worry about.”
