What Does It Take to Climb Up the Ladder?
I&#x27;m going to go off on a tangent here, and will happily accept downvotes, but I feel like venting for a bit.<p>I love the NYT. Years ago, when I got into it, I was blown away by Krugman, Kristof, Friedman (yes), and even David Brooks. They sounded sensible, nuanced, and <i>intelligent</i>.<p>A lof of that hasn&#x27;t changed (except perhaps my opinion of Friedman!), but NYT&#x27;s comment section is a cesspool. I&#x27;m as liberal as they come, but every NYT comment section is effectively blaming the right-wing regardless of the context of the article. When Brooks talks about values for example, or &quot;social fabric&quot;, I think he does a good job of being reasonable, and if the article were from &quot;anon&quot; vs. Brooks, people would say &quot;Yeah, sounds about right.&quot; Instead, all we get are &quot;David, <i>your</i> party caused this, blah blah blah&quot;.<p>Even in this article, there is a lot of data and lots of food for thought. And yet, the top comment starts out: <i>&quot;Is the problem &quot;single mothers&quot; or is it the right-wingers who conspire to create, perpetuate, and steadily increase economic inequality?&quot;</i><p>It&#x27;s as if you only care about establishing what side the author belongs too, argument be damned.