Brokaw Preaches Virtues Of Simple Life . . . For Others
"We need to re-evaluate what is required in our lives, so that we have a sense of satisfaction. What really counts? One friend of mine has reduced it to this: you should get up in the morning and ask 'what do I need,' not just 'what do I want?'" -- Tom Brokaw, Morning Joe 11-1-11.
"Of course, one of the reasons I bought it was to be able to get away from the frantic life I lead and to have some privacy." -- Tom Brokaw, explaining his purchase of an interest in a 4,000-acre mountain retreat in Montana.
Tom Brokaw: a Michael Moore kind of millionaire? We haven't seen him getting down with the Occupy kids like the documentary-maker recently did. But there was Brokaw--who has amassed a reported $70 million and owns a 4000-acre "mountain retreat" in Montana--on Morning Joe today preaching the virtues of the simple life . . . for others. Video after the jump.
Brokaw offered his simple-life bromides during a Morning Joe appearance in which he promoted his latest book. Check out Brokaw's do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do spiel.
TOM BROKAW: The question which I keep getting asked by people as I go across the country which I think is essential to the American dream is: will my children have a better life than I have? And we ought not to think about that just in terms of economic terms or quantitative terms--about piling up more cars, more houses, more things.
. . .
Having conversations with your children and your grandchildren about real values. We lost our way in housing in this country. Too many people were trying to buy houses; they couldn't afford them. And the houses got too large. And they spending most of their day on a treadmill just trying to keep up with all of that. That too is part of the American Dream. For about 20 million Americans right now it's part of the American nightmare, because their homes are worth less than their mortgages at this point. So we need to re-evaluate what is required in our lives, so that we have a sense of satisfaction. What really counts? One friend of mine has reduced it to this: you should get up in the morning and ask 'what do I need,' not just "what do I want?'
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I love it.
Note: I imagine that, like me, most conservatives don't begrudge Brokaw making his millions and spending them as he pleases. But do we really need to hear him preaching the virtues of the simple life to us?
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Comments
Thank you, Tom "Leona in pants" Helmsley.
Submitted by drsamherman on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:17am.
Yes us "little people" should lead simpler lives so you and yours can continue to lead a lifestyle to which you have inexplicably rose. It certainly was neither intellect or honesty that got you where you are.
"Leona in pants"
Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:10pm.
Priceless!!! LOL, Doctor.
Sick of this
Submitted by jon_torlin on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:22am.
I'm really tired of these elitists telling us how to live. Like we don't have freedom of choice or anything.
-Jon
oh please
Submitted by grammajane on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:35am.
He comes across as the most reliable source of how Americans "should" face life. He is a huge radical lib and in his side-ways lectures, he truly believes in all things obama and the liberal agenda while trying to come across as a highly educated elite that thinks he has all the answers.
Just more of the "new normal"
Submitted by amyshulk on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:50am.
Just more of the "new normal" talk to acclimate people.
Ronald Reagan
Careful there, Tom
Submitted by HockeyKid on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:58am.
How many people do you think will answer, "What do I need today?" with "to buy one of Brokaw's books"? This is a man whose entire career consists of selling stuff nobody needs--leftist newscasts and retrospective books.
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Not even hiding it anymore
Submitted by Chad B on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 12:32pm.
'From each according to his ability, to each according to his need' - Karl Marx
Or maybe comrade Brokaw should have said the full quote: 'In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly—only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!'
So, I suspect the plan now that 'we've hitched our wagons to something larger than ourselves to realize our true potential, we no longer distinguish between the private and public sector, government has driven up the cost of living and our retirements are no longer able to support many of our retired people and destroyed any hope of early retirement, wealth redistribution of more abundant; we are now in a position where people can focus on satisfying needs as opposed to want.
Mika agrees...
Fret not, comrade Brokaw, as by the time the Dear Ruler...
Submitted by Dave. on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 12:22pm.
...completes his task and our economy and financial system completely collapses, we (and that includes you) will all be living the "simple life."
BTW - By then, your $70 mil won't be worth its weight in manure.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
I guess
Submitted by StarAZ on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 12:24pm.
I guess he gets up in the morning and thinks, "I NEED an obscenely oversized house and tons of land." Bully for him. Just remember--every single person on TV telling you how poor you are has a job and is probably a millionaire.
*
Submitted by Dave. on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:14pm.
oops, wrong thread
Vote for the American in November
Tom is a turkey
Submitted by greydawg on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 12:57pm.
The day that I will turn to this pompous, self-worshipping blowhard for advice on how to live my life will be the day after the rest of the human race was been eliminated. A self-important jerk who has $70 million after doing no more than looking pretty and reading from a teleprompter hardly qualifies as an Oracle...except, of course in his own mind.
This is the same simple life
Submitted by buddyc on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:01pm.
This is the same simple life type who bought up a huge swath of land in the Boulder River Valley in Montana and devotes a lot of effort to driving off anyone who wants to fish the Rive or use it for recreation as is their right in Montana. The next valley up, the Paradise Valley is virtually owned by the Turner and Fondas. They devote a lot of time to doing the same. Just down state a few miles the Turners have done the same to the entire Ruby River Valley. And just accross the mountains from the Ruby River Valley is the Centinal Valley where the Turners have dones the same to the Red Rock River and the surrounding valley.
Maybe the 99% should seize this land of the 1% and OPEN IT UP TO PUBLIC ENJOYMENT AND USE???
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, may we all enjoy a simpler life.
Brokaw is a piece of shit!
Tom Broke-jaw only has what he "needs".
Submitted by almostacowboy on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:13pm.
"Brawndo has what plants crave. Electrolytes."
Mika agrees
Submitted by Model850 on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:29pm.
Brokaw: . . . you should get up in the morning and ask 'what do I need,' not just "what do I want?'
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: I love it.
Now Mika "loves" the idea of the so-called simple life. Back in 2008? Not so much.
Model850
Submitted by amyshulk on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 3:29pm.
Oh, that wasn't about *money* - Mika felt dissed because she has a *much* higher opinion of her worth than anyone else did/does!
Ronald Reagan
opinion of worth
Submitted by Agnostic on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 3:33pm.
but it is important to note that Mika understands that the market sets value and it isn't the arbitrary "Big Corp CEO" holding everyone down.
Bubbles Brzezinski
Submitted by djwolf12 on Fri, 11/04/2011 - 7:18pm.
Honestly, how can any person with an IQ that is actually in negative numbers get a job on a network OTHER than MSLSD? If you combine her IQ along with Martin Bashir, there may be just enough intelligence to tie a shoe.
This moron fails to realize
Submitted by LAM SON 719 on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:34pm.
This moron fails to realize that he will be exposed as a fraud or the "little people" will come and forcibly take what is his.
So
Submitted by KornKing on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:41pm.
How would the lapdogs, including Tommy boy, react if this was Todd & Sarah Palin buying a 4000 acre ranch so they could have some "privacy"?
A reminder about class warfare....
Submitted by notinstl on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:43pm.
...the best defense is a good offense
class warfare
Submitted by Agnostic on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 1:48pm.
having more class than your opponent will sometimes leave you open to a classless attack you could never comprehend.
Brokaw is slipping into irrelevancy.
Submitted by KyWriter on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 3:31pm.
And he realizes it. It must be boring on those 4K acres (or his hero Obama has so severely tanked the economy that he can't unload it).
The breathtaking hypocrisy..
Submitted by greggy on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 4:00pm.
of the limo-liberal.
Faux waxing poetic about the pleasures of living the simple life, valuing only the necessities, steering away from materialism (ie: capitalism).
All the while, he's raking in $70 million, building an estate on a 4,000 acre mountain retreat, and hawking his over-priced books to the "proletariat".
Another upper-crust, left-leaning one-percenter, lecturing the rest of us on the virtues and benefits of leading a sparse, basic life, while he lives life in the lap of luxury.
It's a strange thing when a man exhibits no sense of self-awareness at all.
I think Brokaw is talking
Submitted by balboa on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 7:09pm.
I think Brokaw is talking about people who try to live past their means, stretching themselves too thin, not someone who can easily afford a second house. This is silly nonsense.
Oh jeeeeeez,
Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 1:49am.
Oh jeeeeeez, Rocky.............spare me the alibis!!! I'll say the same thing to you that I said to butterball on another thread - who posted an excuse as lame as yours.........................weak weak weak!!! If that's what you think Broke-Jaw means, then come over here to an outer island of Hawaii, because I have a prime piece of beach front property to sell you!!! But bring cash only!!!
Speaking of silly nonsense...Balboa's back
Submitted by greggy on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 2:11am.
"I think Brokaw is talking about people who try to live past their means".
Sorry Bal, but that's not what he said. You can try to reinterpret his words anyway you like, you can twist his words and try to divine some meaning that supports what you'd like to believe he "really meant" - but it was a clear denunciation of materialism.
"Denunciation"? He said
Submitted by balboa on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 12:52pm.
"Denunciation"? He said Americans were questioning the need for things. That in no way means he can't own a big spread somewhere.
What article are you
Submitted by ant on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 1:32pm.
What article are you reading?
1. He didn't say 'Americans are questioning the need for things' at all. HE said Americans (as in, other people) should question their 'want' for things and focus on what they 'need'. If Americans were questioning their 'need' for things, I dare say we wouldn't have a bunch of idiots at Occupy listing their various wants and needs. So far as they are American in name and residence only, their value system suggests a society far from American.
2.He CAN own a big spread somewhere, no one on the conservative side makes judgements regarding what people have, unless, as in this case, they take a stand that reveals hypocrisy and contradicts THEIR true lifestyle. You see the difference, it is OK for him to have wealth and a nice house, however, HE is implying that others shouldn't or that others shouldn't strive for prosperity. Noone here is making themselves the judge of when "somebodies made enough'. That's the game played on your side. Is there too much 'nuance' on this subject for you?
Right, question their "want"
Submitted by balboa on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 2:02pm.
Right, question their "want" in order to better assess what's important and what's doable. That is different for everyone.
For him, a second house is doable.
Not what he said
Submitted by Model850 on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 3:33pm.
Brokaw: So we need to re-evaluate what is required in our lives, so that we have a sense of satisfaction. What really counts? One friend of mine has reduced it to this: you should get up in the morning and ask 'what do I need,' not just "what do I want?'
Whether or not a second house (or a third, fourth, or whatever it would be for Brokaw) is "doable" for him is immaterial. Does he really need a 2nd or 3rd or whatever house, or does he just want it?
That's the distinction he is asking others to make. Now, I don't know; maybe Tom really needs multiple houses. If so, more power to him. Somehow, though, I doubt it.
Walden Woods
Submitted by djwolf12 on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 8:32pm.
Until these liberals start acting like their forgotten idol Henry David Thoreau and give up all of their SUVs, yachts, 100 room mansions and private jets all to the cause of Occupy whatever, then I will keep pointing out their hypocrisy. Remember, capitalism in their eyes is good for them, but oh no, not good for you!
Hey, Tom thanks for the sage
Submitted by ant on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:27pm.
Hey, Tom thanks for the sage advice, too bad it's pretty much been said Centuries ago. Some of us weren't born yesterday, yaknow.
But since you ask, I NEED Barack and his filthy administration to be gone..like, yesterday. And I WANT Barack and his filthy administration gone... like,.. yesterday. Is that simple enough for ya?
this has been on my fridge forever...
Submitted by kata on Wed, 11/02/2011 - 2:28am.
You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need. ~Vernon Howard
Mr. Brokaw's show : "American Character Along Highway 50" - is filled with political bludgeoning that's hard to look past.
The line he says here is from his scripted narration from an interview in Nevada
Who's to say if he really believes it.