For 10 years I have had this healthy disdain for Thomas Friedman and his writings. I read "Lexus and the Olive Tree" several years ago at the recommendation of a friend and that was a genuine attempt at trying to understand what he had to say, and that was more than enough. Since then, I've tried to stay away from all his books and his column in the NYT, but to my dismay I found this guy's words being plastered all around and there seemed to be no getting away from him.
Here he was churning one book after the other and I found it incredible how people who are deemed smart could fall for this "pundit"who uses mixed up idioms and phrases to explain the obvious (something like "we need to learn how to learn how to learn") or say things that were outright ridiculous. My oft repeated example was him saying everything was fine and dandy in India by visiting Bangalore (which he believes describes the entire sub-continent BTW) when the communal riots happened in Gujarat (the world being flat, he probably could stand in Bangalore and see Gujarat with an unobstructed view).
Anyway, i've never been able to articulate exactly what i felt for Friedman when I stumbled upon this review by Matt Taibbi which says everything i've ever wanted to say.
"Someone take away Thomas Friedman's computer before he types another sentence" is the only article about Friedman that i've read and re-read many times.
Needless to say I am a fan of Taibbi and underneath that humor and sarcasm I find his writings to be an accurate portrayal of America today. I wish he would write more on his Blog!
