Spinning the Dark Side of Success
Headline writers are giving satirists competition.
The magesterial Mr. Will's exclusive NRO column.
hat
do satirists do, faced with the competition of the New York Times?
Recently the front page, below the fold, had the following two stories,
one on top of the other. The theme of one was the “stress of ‘sudden wealth
syndrome.’” The headline of the other was:
“Vibrant Area of Newark Suffers With Success”
The first story concerned the hell of life in an America that is producing 60 new millionaires a day. The Times reported that especially in and around Silicon Valley, “the peculiar challenges of wealth” are burdening the children. Psychologists are getting rich — their unfortunate children! — helping families cope with the challenge of keeping perspective on Life and Truth and all that while coining money.
The second story is another of those “dark side of success” stories. Seems a portion of Newark is alive and well and . . . suffering. It is a (let’s get the word in here) victim of dense traffic, a shortage of parking places, rising prices of real estate. Oh, for the good old days.