People like Us

People like Us

People Like Us" by David Brooks is a softball fluff article written by a pseudo-conservative for a liberal audience to quickly read and discard. The slant of the article is that even though America claims to be a huge melting pot of diverse people, cultures and ideas we are not. His reasoning is that human nature makes human beings seek out others that are like themselves to work, live and gather. The majority of the article focuses on the divide between black and white and, ivy-league schools and non-ivy league schools, and liberals and conservatives.

Mr. Brooks goes on to say that, "people show few signs of being truly interested in building diverse communities". This is true; the average person is concerned with just living life. They want to work, be with loved ones and try to find a sense of accomplishment, happiness and peace. The only people that are truly concerned about cultural diversity are politicians, activists, marketers and others with an agenda.

The true slant and aim of the article comes through when Mr. Brooks begins writing about the lack of cultural diversity at the places that espouse their virtues the most, elite universities. This begins a softball dig at intellectual educators. This is meant to bond with the reader by creating a mutual divide with a group that many readers may not have strong life-long ties to. It goes on to create a sense of elitism and further class division by stating, "It probably would be psychologically difficult for most Brown professors to share an office with someone who was pro-life, a member of the National Rifle Association, or an evangelical Christian." This is another way to tell the liberal readership his point of view that conservatives are not as educated or sophisticated as they ...