Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Friedman Wrong on Web People vs Wall People


I  don’t buy Tom Friedman's description  in today’s NYT of the dichotomy between web people (global Democrats) and wall people (nationalist Republicans).  The web people just live behind smaller, higher walls, e.g., in Silicon Valley (walled by high real estate prices) or Manhattan (an expensive island).  Or in Friedman’s case, in five-star hotels around the world, a favorite haunt of peripatetic billionaires.  Missionaries and aid workers do live in a world without walls, but that’s the exception.  Web people work hard so that they can have their own walls.