Have you noticed that the most famous people in media – the people with the most influential slots in top newspapers, with shows of their own in prime-time, voices first heard by Senators and CEOs and other key decision-makers – tend not to be all that bright?
Don’t get me wrong: they’re not dumb. The people who rise to positions of high influence in this business tend to be at least literate, and quick-minded enough not to drown on live television.
But, as is curiously the case with high-level politicians as well, top on-air personalities and print editorialists are never geniuses. They almost never say or write surprising things. They don’t dazzle or amaze.
You’d trust the average newspaper editorialist to be able to assemble an IKEA product, but the problem is their editorial arguments feel similarly designed, i.e. never too complicated for the average consumer to follow. In a way, it’s almost the same kind of quality control standard.
Even the age of the intellectual poseur is van…