Alterman On Whiteness

If you missed Altercation yesterday, Eric has fun, (and so will you) assaulting a NYTimes article on "white studies," which he rightly deems ".the most profoundly content-less article in a major newspaper this year."

What in the world justifies this lazy article nearly 10 years after the fact? One thing: the anti-intellectualism of the U.S. media. Another is its right-ward drift. I mean, if a bunch of academics want to study “whiteness,” who cares? And what sane person cares what Horowitz thinks about anything? Why in the world is it front-page news, except to encourage an ignorant sneer on the part of readers, who then congratulate themselves on their common sense compared to those pointy-headed academics?

He then proceeds to do the same for "Fine White Whines," by which he means an old complaint by Bernard Goldberg, and a new one by Jonah Goldberg (no relation, that we know of).

Speaking of whiteness, I can’t make up my mind about something. Are white-boy conservatives the whiniest people on the planet or is there a special subset of white-boy conservatives named “Goldberg” who manage, somehow, to set an even higher standard?

Eric sorts it all out for you.