Dichotomies and ... Trichotomies?

David Brooks, the master of conflated social and political dichotomy, has struck again, this time dividing Americans into"paragraph people" (humanities majors/Democrats) and"spreadsheet" people (CEOs/accountants/Republicans). Curiously, though, he cites figures showing that the vast majority of political donations from employees of certain institutions of higher learning went to Democrats, but surely these schools have business departments, economists, natural scientists, not to mention non-academic employees?

And Cornell West, who has explored more forms of media than most, has divided political elites into three kinds of nihilists: evangelical ("might makes right," not Christian), paternalistic ("because he pities the masses, he deceives them"), and sentimental (truth subordinate to narrative satisfaction). The evangelical nihilists seem to be mostly Republicans, though you could argue for any group self-satisfied at its own success. The paternalist examples given in the review are Democrats, but it seems to be a pretty good description of Straussian neo-conservativism [Thanks, Ralph], as well. The sentimental nihilists are identified with the media, but that has to include advertising/marketing and political rhetoreticians as well. I would be more inclined to take West's categories seriously -- I certainly think he's right that American democracy needs renewal and we have many traditions on which to draw to accomplish that, as well as new resources -- if he didn't attribute the withering souls of American youth to" cocaine, Ecstasy, oral sex and -- Weblogs."