This Is Funny

I put these two questions:

Should the Washington Post have a "World Columnist" who does not know that it is Canberra, not Sydney, that is the capital of Australia?

Should a man who thinks that the capital of Australia is Sydney be pontificating about foreign affairs in any forum?

Still the Colossus: Robert Kagan: In East Asia, meanwhile, U.S. relations with Japan grow ever closer as the Japanese become increasingly concerned about China and a nuclear-armed North Korea. China's (and Malaysia's) attempt to exclude Australia from a prominent regional role at the recent East Asian summit has reinforced Sydney's desire for closer ties.

Comments

[Fred Hapgood]

I think it would be very difficult to find a single member of the set of non-stupid people, which of course includes Professor DeLong, who had not made a mistake of this order.

[david]

I think he must have been referring to the conventional wisdom about Asian relations that Sydney insiders gossip about on the Opera House steps.

[JH]

How many of those "non-stupd people" make their living from reporting on world events? Australia is not an obscure country. Come on!

[Doug]

The point being, of course, is that maybe, just maybe, Kagan could have taken the time to check his facts (even the simple ones he was sure he knew) and maybe, just maybe his editor could have done the same. I'm tired of the 'everyone makes mistakes' BS- these people get paid lots of money, to .. not.. make.. silly.. mistakes

[P O'Neill]

Watch for Howard Kurtz to defend Kagan with the claim that the sentence is merely "inartfully phrased."

[Matt Austern]

It's a shame that bloggers like Kaplan make amateurish mistakes like that, isn't it? He's a good example of why writing about public affairs ought to be left to the grownups and professionals.

[SFAW]

I think you mean Kogan, not Kaplan.

[Buce]

Well, it is a little-known fact that Sacramento is the capitol of California. This is a truth obscured, if not actively doubted, in the perception many of Brad's colleagues who see it only as they whiz by on the way to the slopes. It may also have eluded Malibu Arnold when he put himself in contention for a job that is several Humvee gas tanks away from home.

On the other hand, all these people may be right. It's likely that more of what counts in California goes on in LA hotel rooms than the miserable little swath of the boonies. Did someone say "Sydney Opera House?"

[Buce]

When you say Kogan I assume you meant Kagan.

Dear god, why oh why can't we have a better blogetariat?

[SFAW]

Buce -
No, when I said Kogan I meant Kogan. Or is subtlety a lost art?

Oh, and if the "Dear god.." comment wasn't directed at my "Kogan", I apologize and respectfully withdraw the following:

if the "Dear god ..." comment WAS directed at my "Kogan": you're not quite as bright as you need to be to play here. But you might be able to have a high-level conversation with Pamela of "Atlas Shrugs".

[Jim Brady]

Mr. DeLong:

It is with utmost regret that I must close the comments section on this post. We will not tolerate obscenity and personal attacks from fcuking traitors like you.

[Gary Frazier]

Professionals do not make these kind of mistakes, Hapgood.

Kagan's error is frankly laughable. It's the sort of stupidty you expect from George W. Bush, or some other slack-jawed provincial type. Not a "Global Affairs" columnist, who supposedly got the position by NOT making these sort of stupid mistakes.

[Leszek Pawlowicz]

I'm as hung up on getting the facts right as anyone, but this seems to me to be an innocent and inconsequential error. Who among us hasn't had a brain fart, even on a topic they're intimately acquainted with? I understand that the Washington Post is everybody's whipping boy these days, with good reason IMHO, but this kind of nitpicking diminishes the impact of valid criticisms.

[fitzroy]

Given the amount of time he spends in Sydney rather than Canberra, it could be argued that John Howard thinks it's the capital too.

But then, he isn't the only one. The politicians all leave Canberra every Thursday afternoon.

[ohdave]

Don't worry, if enough bloggers point out the error the Post will issue a "clarification" in which it is explained that it was simply inartfully worded, and that while it hasn't been proven yet that Sydney is the capital, everyone knows that it is more or less true, and bloggers should quit being so mean about it. Shut the comments down! Now!

[mdhatter]

Hey, it takes A LOT of asian fireworks to light up that bridge.

[Max Renn]

Note also that Kagan's blathering is all one color: beige. And all one note: wishful thinking.

[Alan]

Yes, everyone has brain farts once in a while. The issue for the Post, however, is how many people (writers, copy editors, etc.) had to simultaneously have brain farts to let this one through? This is an excusable brain fart in draft form, less so in print. It suggests that more than one person along the way is not doing his or her job. And with the Post these days, that is the problem.

[Downpuppy]

I can't get too hung up on the Australia bit. The entire column is a brain fart.

[TK]

I would be remiss if I didn't dredge up my favorite pundit pratfall, Charles Krauthammer denouncing the know-nothing Clinton Administration and its do-gooder minions in the UN for intervening in Haiti. As the button on his column he cited what he regarded as the utmost folly of the UN's Haiti mission: not one of the delegates spoke Spanish.

Haiti is, of course, Francophone.

[Craig Tindale]

Its nice to live in Sydney now our status has been upgraded :)

His analysis further disqualifies him, he reports international affairs like a bad football commentator who's never studied the game. Its mindless American Exceptional drivel and he cant even read the scoreboard. The indispensable country destroying itself, while the delusional chant “we are great” we are great” we are great” . The recipe for America’s hegemony confuses money with wealth, consumption with production, investment growth and asset inflation, fiscal intemperance and prodigality. Kaplan is deluded in fact and observation watch as these guys get even shriller whne they discover the world isn’t as flat as they continually pronounce it to be so.

[Buce]

"No, when I said Kogan I meant Kogan. Or is subtlety a lost art?"

It appears so, yes.

[mwg]

Anybody want to chip in and buy the Post a good almanac?

[derrida derider]

Well, as a Canberran I'm glad that over-crowded over-priced and brash city is not the capital (Sydney has to be the archetypal "great place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there" place. Canberra is the reverse - nothing worth travelling to see, but extremely liveable).

As an Australian I'm used to such errors (I've been asked by an American cab driver where I learned English). Pace Brad, but we actually are a pretty obscure place a long way from anywhere. Which is exactly why I love it.

[Charles]

"Jim Brady," having just wasted much too much time with a Post defender (staffer?) with the disposable screen name "NotJimBrady," please allow me to say that I fell off my donkey laughing at your deadly accurate satire of The Post.

Why does anyone read the newspapers when the blogs are so d--n much fun?

[liberal]

Great catch, TK.

[craig]

It may be true that you can let an error like this pass - but in international relations you never know just what will get blown into a major political incident.

We'll just have to wait and see how Cleveland reacts to this.

[owlbear1]

Austrailia should seriously consider moving its capital IMMEDIATELY!

I mean, who the hell has heard of Cannbera anyway?

[P.M.Lawrence]

I seem to remember a blogger who thought there was a Queen of England these days, forgetting that the UK has been around in one form or another since the days of Queen Anne.

[wkwillis]

I prefer the term "voltage fluctuation" for errors like that.