Kumbaya: David Brooks column on elitist deli meats brings together liberals and conservatives

Wakes up… Checks Twitter… Sees “David Brooks” as the No. 1 trending topic nationally…

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/884761822661931009

Oh, it’s good.

Here’s the latest from the New York Times columnist with a hot-take on elitist deli meats, or something:

https://twitter.com/johnhawkinsrwn/status/884761897802838017

Question, why not just tell his friend what each sandwich is?

I guess my question is, why couldn't David Brooks just explain the gourmet sandwich ingredients to his "high school-educated friend"?

— Jen Chaney (@chaneyj) July 11, 2017

I'm not confident David Brooks knew what those sandwiches were either b/c most people wouldve offered explanations or recs to a friend.

— Raising Awareness for The Brandi (@ItsTheBrandi) July 11, 2017

And this is a pretty bad example because in many parts of the U.S., it’s the Mexican food that’s a mystery:

Also, David Brooks, to a white girl from New Hampshire, Italian food is far more familiar than Mexican, ffs.

— Chillian J. Yikes! (@jilliancyork) July 11, 2017

I have a college degree and I’m of Italian descent and I have legitimately no idea what any of those sandwiches are.

— Christine Rousselle ??‍♀️ (@crousselle) July 11, 2017

Anyway, mockery, at this point, has been a bipartisan affair:

https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/884759789624078337

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That we can still unite to all hate David Brooks gives me a flicker of hope for humanity

— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) July 11, 2017

Someone should tell David Brooks that having a college degree doesn't preclude you from disliking pretentious hipster eateries.

— NeoN: Automataster (@neontaster) July 11, 2017

I'm pretty sure David Brooks doesn't have any friends with only HS degrees. Also, I'm pretty sure David Brooks doesn't have any friends

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 11, 2017

https://twitter.com/RobProvince/status/884771251616718848

I have a PhD and no clue what that stuff is. This person probably seemed anxious to flee because she was stuck having lunch w/David Brooks. https://t.co/1eyNJeiXck

— Sarah Kendzior (@sarahkendzior) July 11, 2017

honestly David Brooks, I have a PhD and I had to google "a striata baguette"

— Leah Reich (@ohheygreat) July 11, 2017

This David Brooks thing reminds me when he listed Stella as an ironic trucker-cap beer bc it was "the beer of the Belgian working class."

— Emily Nussbaum (@emilynussbaum) July 11, 2017

https://twitter.com/dankennedy_nu/status/884751022756954112

I'm starting to think there are reasons why no one wants to go out to dinner with David Brooks. https://t.co/fyGksU0rfr

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 11, 2017

WAITER: fresh-ground pepper?

DAVID BROOKS: [to no one] THIS IS NORMAL. HE IS ASKING IF WE WOULD LIKE PEPPER, A SPICE, ON OUR FOOD

— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) July 11, 2017

I hope David Brooks’ friend is cool with being portrayed as a dumb yokel who fled with terror from sandwiches

— Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson) July 11, 2017

But to many, Brooks has a point on how the “college-educated class” is keeping its “privileged status”:

https://twitter.com/Rubinations/status/884777144676741120

https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/884768671733882880

In a otherwise crappy David Brooks piece there is this nugget of truth… pic.twitter.com/uA9CzyEcpU

— Hrag (@hragv) July 11, 2017

Here’s the opener:

Over the past generation, members of the college-educated class have become amazingly good at making sure their children retain their privileged status. They have also become devastatingly good at making sure the children of other classes have limited chances to join their ranks.

How they’ve managed to do the first task — giving their own children a leg up — is pretty obvious. It’s the pediacracy, stupid. Over the past few decades, upper-middle-class Americans have embraced behavior codes that put cultivating successful children at the center of life. As soon as they get money, they turn it into investments in their kids.

And:

It’s when we turn to the next task — excluding other people’s children from the same opportunities — that things become morally dicey. Richard Reeves of the Brookings Institution recently published a book called “Dream Hoarders” detailing some of the structural ways the well educated rig the system.

The most important is residential zoning restrictions. Well-educated people tend to live in places like Portland, New York and San Francisco that have housing and construction rules that keep the poor and less educated away from places with good schools and good job opportunities.