Jesus in Corinth: Michael Peppard on How David Brooks and the New York Times Editorial Page Staff Flunk Humanities 1
Michael Peppard:
NYT's ironic fact-check error: David Brooks's column today is vintage Brooks… embed[ding] my own nostalgia for the time and place in which I grew up within a framework of someone else's compelling (if simplistic) narrative, and then offer[ing] sweeping, general prescriptions for our societial ills. The upshot of this particular instance of the genre is that "religion" (impossibly generalized) used to play a more "dominant role in public culture," and that such a role supported a "moral status system" that provided a check on the "worldly status system." Back in those days, when there were "competing status hierarchies," the "culture was probably more dynamic" and -- it goes without saying -- better. It's a pristine specimen of Brooks…. But then there's this doozy of a blunder:
In Corinthians, Jesus tells the crowds, “Not many of you were wise by worldly standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth…"
Where to begin analyzing this unbelievable error?! Until proven otherwise, I'm going to go ahead and pronounce it the most ironic fact-checking oversight in the history of the esteemed New York Times.
This is the thing that happens when you go trolling for quotes through books you haven't read or have long forgotten.
Just saying.
Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?
