Cheh on Brooks: “He Should Be Ashamed of Himself!”
As noted in today's LL Daily, David Brooks, in his New York Times column this morning, painted Ward 3 with the typically broad brush you might know and love from such armchair sociological works Bobos in Paradise and On Paradise Drive.
A sample: "On any given Saturday, half the people in Ward Three are arranging panel discussions for the other half to participate in. They live in modest homes with recently renovated kitchens and Nordic Track machines crammed into the kids’ play areas downstairs (for some reason, people in Ward Three are only interested in toning the muscles in the lower halves of their bodies)."
So LL called Ward 3's councilmember, Mary Cheh, to get her reaction. She minced no words:
"I do have something of a reaction. He's made his living lobbing uninformed insults at various communities. He lives by these broad generalizations, which is somewhat ironic, since the man himself lives at Bethesda, Maryland...a community which suffers even worse stereotypes...He should be ashamed of himself!"
Cheh went on to postulate a cynical motive: "It might be a market strategy, since many of the New York Times readers are in Ward 3."
The stereotypes, Cheh continued, are "extraordinarily offensive. That's his stock in trade, to be offensive to communities....They're not based on fact. They're not based on first-hand knowledge." She seemed most concerned about how Brooks' comments reinforce the old tropes about white vs. black Washington: "It plays into these divisive stereotypes that people throw out about the District. It doesn't help any community in this city."
Cheh's husband, Neil A. Lewis, is a longtime reporter in the Times' Washington bureau. LL asked Cheh if she might ask him to crack some heads down at the office.
"No," she said, "I'm leaving him out of it."
UPDATE, 5:45 P.M.: For the record, Cheh says, she does not have a NordicTrack in her Forest Hills home. "And I haven't had my kitchen remodeled!"
In fact, Brooks' no-upper-body-toning rule sure doesn't apply to Cheh. The councilmember tells LL she does 200 pushups daily.
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10:22 am
Cheh needs to get a grip.
10:25 am
David Brooks is a pitiful dweeb.
11:01 am
Shameful, yes. But surprising? Not so much.
12:06 pm
Seriously, Cheh needs to learn to take a joke. Most of what Brooks says is accurate as far as metonymies go. Plus, he's obviously exaggerating for comedic effect.
Besides, Cheh's humorless response only reinforces Brooks' observations: Ward Three is full of not-quite-rich professionals with a strong inner-schoolmarm and a severe humor deficiency. Is that everyone? No, but if you have a problem with that, then surely you've never used phrases like "Wall Street" or "the South".
9:13 pm
Hear me now, believe me later, Girly Man Brooks; Mary Cheh is here to pump you up!"
10:29 pm
Cheh simultaneously shows her good and bad sides --- and demonstrates why I both love and am sometimes puzzled by her politics. She's smart, sharp-witted and passionate about her beliefs. On the down side, she tends to be strident and occasionally over the top when a more balanced approach would better advance her cause. Be wise, Mary, and pick your spots (and I'm not talking about the article at hand). In the end, you'll be more effective and less divisive.
12:50 pm
I happen to be a Ward 3 resident, and I must say I find the lack of a sense of humor on this issue to be quite disturbing. The article mixed hyperbole with some painful truths. Last I checked, that's the job of an OpEd columnist. Get a grip, all of you!