Reply #8: Friedman's job is convincing the masses that whatever the US ruling

[RichM]

elite want to do, is really "justified" & only done for (needless to say) pure & highly moral reasons. His pitch is specialized for "liberal" audiences, like readers of the NYT. It's as though he takes rightwing imperialist/militarist policy, & translates it into terms that many NYT readers can be seduced by.

If you're talking directly to rightwingers, you can directly say: "Our policy is that the towelheads sit on some valuable oil reserves. So, let's kill the sons of bitches, & take it all for ourselves." Rightwingers have no problems with straight talk like this.

But you can't talk like that to NYT readers. They would be "offended." That's where Tom Friedman comes in. He takes the same idea, & changes the words a bit, so that it's suddenly all about "freedom, democracy and building a pluralistic society." Then the NYT liberals are satisfied -- & are willing to kill some towelheads & steal their oil.

This "translating" skill is what earns Tom the big bucks.