I've never really understood the Tom Friedman backlash. He seems to be a pretty thoughtful, reasonably imaginative writer.
My guess is that it's because he's not a doctrinaire liberal, plus probably the whole Iraq thing.
My guess is that it's because he's not a doctrinaire liberal, plus probably the whole Iraq thing.
Sounds like any number of journalists/writers to me.
Do you really feel that he has an attribution issue? He seems to always put the focus on people at the forefront of the change he describes (for example, in this article the focus is on Chesky.) It's not like his articles are some TED like exercise, where he portrays himself as being at the center of making all of these new things happen.
Not all Friedman books are like that. "From Beirut to Jerusalem" was excellent and should be mandatory reading for anyone who wants to get a better grasp of the conflicts in the middle east.
Long version: http://www.eschatonblog.com/2012/04/one-true-wanker-of-decad...