Well, this has shaken some things loose, eh? Note that I did say that Homer wasn’t crunchy (after I said that he was — does this qualify me for some kind of John Kerry award?). The larger point I wanted to make is that Rod’s crunchy thesis does not draw fine enough distinctions. The point is that despite Homer’s many faults (and he has many that are effectively lampooned), he can still do the right thing; he sticks; he’s not a placeless aimless wanderer through life. That is far more important than not buying Duff beer or otherwise being a “consumer.” I think some of the things Rod is talking about apply very well to the professionalized classes (which ironically may have the same tastes in wine, shoes, etc. a la Brooks’ bobos as does Rod), but can fall flat in blue collar small town America due to excessive Lisa-izing (something many bedrock conservatives are inherently allergic to). The problem as I see it is that the centralizing bureaucratic professional classes are taking over even blue collar small towns and rural life. It’s getting tougher and tougher — due to hyper-consumerism and all the other things we’ve been talking about here — to be Homer Simpson in America.
