Friedman: Tuning in to Jon Stewart, and Britney Schmidt

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/opinion/06friedman.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

Many authors hate to go on grinding book tours. But I've always found it a useful way to be a foreign correspondent in America and take the pulse of the country. Here are the two most important things I learned from a recent book tour:

First, many educated people seem to be getting their news from Comedy Central. Say what? As any author will tell you, the best TV book shows to be on have long been Don Imus, Charlie Rose, C-Span, Tim Russert on CNBC, "Today," Oprah and selected programs on CNN, Fox and MSNBC. They are all still huge. But what was new for me on this tour was the number of people who also mentioned getting their news from Jon Stewart's truly funny news satire, "The Daily Show." And I am not just talking about college kids. I am talking about grandmas. Just how many people are now getting their only TV news from Comedy Central is not clear to me - but it is a lot, lot more than you think.

Second, and this may be related to the first, there's a huge undertow of worry out in the country about how our kids are being educated and whether they'll be able to find jobs in an increasingly flat world, where more Chinese, Indians and Russians than ever can connect, collaborate and compete with us. In three different cities I had parents ask me some version of: "My daughter is studying Chinese in high school. That's the right thing to do, isn't it?"

Not being an educator, I can't give any such advice. But my own research has taught me that the most important thing you can learn in this era of heightened global competition is how to learn. Being really good at "learning how to learn," as President Bill Brody of Johns Hopkins put it, will be an enormous asset in an era of rapid change and innovation, when new jobs will be phased in and old ones phased out faster than ever.

[grytpype]

1. Someday the world will be as flat as Tom Friedman's head.

[girl gone mad]

2. Taking chinese in high school is probably too late.

It's a tough language for English speakers to learn, and I think most students give up after less than a year of study.

[KissMyAsscroft]

3. I am so jealous of your Will Ferrel thingee!

Ahhh....more cowbell.

Is there anything he CAN'T do?!!

[rodeodance]

4. His notion of a flat world has a lot to it. I started reading his book,

[Maple]

5. This is the most important thread

on here today.

Bar none.

[bemildred]

6. Snarf, slobber, drool, lurch, dribble, stumble, snarf ....

The most important thing you can learn in this era of heightened
global competition is to get politically active, kick all the swine
in Washington, DC out on their fat asses, and elect people at every
level of government that will work to serve our interests, not their
own; and then hold their feet to the fire until they undo all the
economic damage done in the last 40 years by these dipshits with
their monopoly capitalism and "globalization" policies.

[freesqueeze]

7. At Least He Recognizes Stewart's

position in the scheme of things and the power of the most trusted voice in fake news...

http://www.freesqueeze.com/JonStewart.htm

[bpilgrim]

8. i can't read the rest of his flat-earth CRAP... does he actually give ANY

fucking examples of these 'jobs' that are supposed to come and go faster then you can draft a subpoena?

it's been my experience that all these genius never do or resort to a rummy cop out along the lines of you can't know the unknown knowns until you get there... lets just say i suspect you can't ever get 'there' from HERE :argh:

it's all about the M.O.N.E.Y.

same as it ever was

third way my a$$

peace

[Demit]

9. Friedman is so incredibly fascinated with himself

and frankly, so am I, at how he tortures an old cliche (leveling the playing field) and turns it into a book-length metaphor (the world is flat).

And that he makes this flat-world a place where everyone is more in touch. I mean, a flat world would have edges, right? Wouldn't the people at the "edges" be more able to be in touch if you somehow, incredibly, turned the world back into a globe again? I mean, you know, if that were somehow possible?

He was excruciating to watch on Charlie Rose. I am heartened to hear his book tour is over.