Bloggers and David Brooks

David Brooks' recent column in the New York Times has been generating a lot of dicussion in the blogger world. Here is an excellent discussion, although the commentary devolves in the end to arguing about the "boomer generation." The big issue is how to understand the differences between the culture after WWII and now. Brooks seems to be buying into the nostalgia argument; that things were so much better before and we have fallen (sounds like Adam and Eve, doesn't it?). So many on the right and left make similar arguments. This is also an interesting incident of why the blogging world is so much more interesting and complex than the op-ed world. The only economist I know who both blogs and op-eds, Paul Krugman, is way more interesting and less dumbed-down in his blog.