This nasal-voiced nerd is a part of the problem. His American Life is honky-centric and disproportionately hip and Jewish- this ain't Anti-Semitic, it is true. When he features African-Americans or poor whites the stories are cliche. Latinos might as well not exist. Muslims, forget about it.
"..things we have not seen before in our lifetimes"
WTF - the hubris on display in that quote is jaw dropping. What "we" is he talking about? Every US citizen? Everyone on earth? "Our lifetimes"? Are you talking to me? Human nature has changed somehow and only Ira can explain it to us?
Nothing turns me off a writer/journalist faster than one that claims to speak for me. To be fair, if he meant the comment as purely directed at people under 25 years of age - well, yeah. But then, a 25 year old hasn't seen much lifetime in general - nearly every experience could be something "not seen before". Just because an experience is new to a younger person does not mean it is new to our species.
WTF - the hubris on display in that quote is jaw dropping. What "we" is he talking about? Every US citizen? Everyone on earth? "Our lifetimes"? Are you talking to me? Human nature has changed somehow and only Ira can explain it to us?
Nothing turns me off a writer/journalist faster than one that claims to speak for me. To be fair, if he meant the comment as purely directed at people under 25 years of age - well, yeah. But then, a 25 year old hasn't seen much lifetime in general - nearly every experience could be something "not seen before". Just because an experience is new to a younger person does not mean it is new to our species.