Comments on: BHL as Inspector Clouseau? http://cultureby.com/2006/02/bhl_as_inspecto.html This Blog Sits At the Intersection of Anthropology and Economics Thu, 17 May 2012 21:10:32 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Grant http://cultureby.com/2006/02/bhl_as_inspecto.html/comment-page-1#comment-5097 Grant Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:40:32 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=765#comment-5097 Auto, yes, he's become a punching bag, one of those blow up Popeyes, and I should be ashamed of myself for taking a swing. Still, I have a blog to get out and I like my targets large and obvious. Niti, perfect. Thanks, Grant Auto, yes, he’s become a punching bag, one of those blow up Popeyes, and I should be ashamed of myself for taking a swing. Still, I have a blog to get out and I like my targets large and obvious.

Niti, perfect. Thanks, Grant

]]> By: Niti Bhan http://cultureby.com/2006/02/bhl_as_inspecto.html/comment-page-1#comment-5096 Niti Bhan Tue, 21 Feb 2006 23:34:12 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=765#comment-5096 I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors. I cannot prevent the French from being French. ~ Charles de Gaulle I have tried to lift France out of the mud. But she will return to her errors. I cannot prevent the French from being French. ~ Charles de Gaulle

]]> By: Auto http://cultureby.com/2006/02/bhl_as_inspecto.html/comment-page-1#comment-5095 Auto Tue, 21 Feb 2006 15:19:56 +0000 http://localhost/wp_culture/?p=765#comment-5095 That take-down of BHL in a recent NYT Sunday book review was brutal. A week or so later, Martin Peretz used his New Republic to salvage BHL -- to no avail. I don't doubt that we're all at risk for saying things about foreign countries that no local would ever say, but the French seem to take the cake. Every few years another esteemed French thinker shows up at Kennedy airport to research a book that ends up saying a lot of stupid shit about America. The Brits, by contrast, perhaps because they're native English speakers, often see America in totally unexpected ways. Long ago, when I worked in Washington in political consulting, we subcribed to all the British papers. We wanted to read how their reporters summed up US politics in a single article that ignored the inside baseball and/or horse race quality of American political reporting. That take-down of BHL in a recent NYT Sunday book review was brutal. A week or so later, Martin Peretz used his New Republic to salvage BHL — to no avail.

I don’t doubt that we’re all at risk for saying things about foreign countries that no local would ever say, but the French seem to take the cake. Every few years another esteemed French thinker shows up at Kennedy airport to research a book that ends up saying a lot of stupid shit about America.

The Brits, by contrast, perhaps because they’re native English speakers, often see America in totally unexpected ways. Long ago, when I worked in Washington in political consulting, we subcribed to all the British papers. We wanted to read how their reporters summed up US politics in a single article that ignored the inside baseball and/or horse race quality of American political reporting.

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