Jan Freeman writes The Word column for Ideas.
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Christopher Shea writes the Critical Faculties column for Ideas.
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Mind the gap
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« Stuffed prisons, empty Congressional hearing | Main | Erik Demaine vs. Caveman Nick » Monday, October 8, 2007Time for retirement?Of this once-funny locution, as deployed, in classic fashion, by Frank Rich this weekend? What's the difference between a low-tech lynching and a high-tech lynching? A high-tech lynching brings a tenured job on the Supreme Court and a $1.5 million book deal. A low-tech lynching, not so much. He's speaking, of course, of Justice Clarence Thomas's favorite metaphor. Not that Rich doesn't have a point -- and I realize this is Jan's territory. But having read the "not so much" punchline in 8,000 blog entries and precisely 103 Gawker items (never mind the comments section), it's D.O.A. every time now, at least to my ears. But back to Thomas. You know those angry emails you sit on for a day and then delete? Thomas has had a decade and a half to rethink that inflammatory rhetoric. Not only doesn't he rethink the similarities and differences between his own status and that of a man hanged by racist vigilantes ... he takes it up a notch and puts it between hard covers. [Edited for clarity, 10/9/07, 10:20 a.m. -- CS] Posted by Christopher Shea at 04:11 PM
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