"Time" Magazine Takes A Contrarian View

In "What The President Reads" from the Jan. 17th issue of Time, the newsweekly attempts to cover for the President's famous lack of curiosity. However, they blow their attemtp to puff Bush in the very first sentence: George Bush is famously anti-intellectual. But he seeks out authors who share his views and looks for reassurance. That last clause completely validates charges of anti-intellectualism. Even the most hyperbolic Bush basher is like to admit, however grudgingly, that George Bush is capable for reading and it is likely that he has at least read a few books (or at least the blurbs of a few dustjackets). This does not make him an intellectual or a person interetested in ideas. A serious person does not read just to confrim his prejudices. Reading books simply to reassure yourself of your rightness doesn't make you deep, it just makes you a wanker.

Update:Reading the newspaper only for the sports page and demanding that you are only told the good news about your war also means that you are a wanker, The Greatest of All Time, in fact.

Yet Another Update:< What has happened to Time? Time is suppose to be the top news magazine, but Newsweek and the New Yorker (which is a monthly and not really a news magazine) are scooping them around the clock. All they seem capable of is publishing mash notes for that Long Not-So-Tall Texan they seem to fancy.