Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Re-read/listen. I listened to this entire book, read by the author, in the time it took me to get ready for work in the morning over a couple weeks. Totally worth it.
I want to use this space to recommend reading his work as The Ethicist at New York Times. That column didn’t last nearly long enough, and he’s since been replaced with the same bullshit nonsense that advice columns always come to, which is “Easily-answered questions asked of people who saddle up the moral high horse and invite you to ride.”
I found a book of advice from Ms. Manners from the late 70’s and early 80’s. Do you know how she answered the question of “How should I treat a gay couple who is coming over for dinner?” “Treat them like you’d treat a couple friends who are coming over for dinner, because that’s what they are.”
Ms. Manners had her shit together like 40 years ago. I don’t think advice columns (with the exception of Dr. Laura) have trouble giving out the “right” answer. It just speaks to the same old story, which is that it’s a lot easier to give advice than it is to follow it. I know this to be true because I write columns of writing advice all the time, and if I could stick to everything I’ve recommended, I’d be fucking Stephen King by now. Without the skill, sure, but also without the getting hit by a van. Win some lose some.
The Ethicist advice post-Klosterman isn’t wrong, it’s just not as interesting. Because what Klosterman did differently is he took the title very seriously. He did not answer with what was morally correct or legally correct. He didn’t give advice so much as he answered with what was ethically correct. Which makes it pretty interesting when you have a question like, “Is it wrong of me to fill a large bottle of water from the Deep Rock at work and bring it home?”
It’s my hope that these columns will be collected and published someday. But I guess we’ll just have to see.