I was reading a thread at Marginal Revolution on the most overrated novel which devolved into the typical Joyce discussion of his unreadability versus his brilliance. I will not claim to be the forefront of Joyce detractors, but I have become tired of every debate constructed by Joyce supporters who mistake inaccessibility as intellectuality and complexity. For every overeducated Joyce defender, for every literary conversation ruined by the zealotry of Joycians, and for the orthodoxy of rigid literary aesthetics I say, Jihad on James Joyce! May his various prose remain unread while the seagulls flock to Dan Brown island!

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The Article: One of the better articles I’ve read in a while, Johann Hari describes taking the National Review Cruise in Titanic at the New Republic (and via Liberal Avenger).

The Text: I am standing waist-deep in the Pacific Ocean, indulging in the polite chit-chat beloved by vacationing Americans. A sweet elderly lady from Los Angeles is sitting on the rocks nearby, telling me dreamily about her son. “Is he your only child?” I ask. “Yes,” she answers. “Do you have a child back in England?” she asks me. No, I say. Her face darkens. “You’d better start,” she says. “The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they’ll have the whole of Europe.”

I am getting used to such moments, when holiday geniality bleeds into–well, I’m not sure exactly what. I am traveling on a bright-white cruise ship with two restaurants, five bars, and 500 readers of National Review. Here, the Iraq war has been “an amazing success.” Global warming is not happening. Europe is becoming a new Caliphate. And I have nowhere to run.

“I am very, very impressed with Regent University, when I consider that it was founded just a short while ago. The number of graduates that you have and the amount of influence that you have is really, really terrific.”

Rudy Giuliani to Pat Robertson at Robertson’s barely accredited, non-competitive, tier 4, “college”.

Via Bill in Exile.

TinyRevolution says it best:

Here’s Mark Twain:

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.

And here’s George Orwell:

Whether the British ruling class are wicked or merely stupid is one of the most difficult questions of our time.

Some stats that should make you throw up in your mouth: