David Brooks of NYT studies highly successful social misanthropes’ 'Rank Links'

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There’s something very apt about a New York Times op-ed columnist writing on this subject. The Big Awful side of the Big Apple produces bizarre successful characters like no other city in the world.

Brooks’ approach to the idea is the development and denouement of these highly successful misfits, and if there’s a person living who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, I’ll be very surprised.

I’m only going to do one quote from his NYT piece, because it really must be read in its entirety, but this is the scene setter for the evolution of the subjects:

“They go through the oboe practice, soccer camp, homework marathon childhood. Their parent-teacher conferences are like mini-Hall of Fame enshrinements as all gather to worship at the flame of their incipient success. In high school, they enter their Alpha Geekdom. They rack up great grades and develop that coating of arrogance that forms on those who know that in the long run they will be more successful than the beauties and jocks who get dates.”

Things then get much worse.

Dr. Jekyll was a model of consistency, compared to these Irish stews of social elements and expectations, and Hyde was a finishing school instructor.

It’s always fascinated me that the sheer mindlessness of their lives hasn’t occurred to some of the people he’s talking about. The “Achiever Ethos” seems to destroy humanity, and maybe even personal individuality, in some. I’ve met highly successful “people” who really couldn’t qualify for the description any way but biologically, and even that’s sometimes debatable.

"Missing Links" would be another description.

These guys are the Ultimate Social Product, taken to a logical conclusion.

There’s a Great American Novel, or several, in this article, and a few black comedies.

Actually, Brooks being a New Yorker, maybe this article should go to Broadway, instead.

I nearly put this article in “Environment”…