Milton Friedman Was an Infuriating Man

You are taking my buddy Fenwick. He’s an exceedingly loveable little man. His disposition is so sunny, his character so open, that even the Most Hardened Cynics, of whom my spouse is Worldwide Chairman, name Fenwick “completely lovable.” He’s the very incarnation of the Boy Scout creed: “reliable, loyal, useful, pleasant, courteous, sort, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, courageous, clear (nice Scott! however he’s clear), reverent.”

Now you’ll suppose that with a character like that, Fenwick could be nearly the preferred man on our block. That isn’t so. Fenwick is nearly probably the most unpopular man on our block. Folks can’t stand him. I’ve seen Sunday-school academics with unblemished complexions, and account executives with split-level ranch homes, throw conniption matches on the mere point out of Fenwick’s identify. Why? Why? I puzzled over this for years, utilizing the best puzzling tools cash should buy, earlier than I found the reply: Fenwick is a person who goes round being logical. He even makes use of cause at cocktail events.

Now, most individuals imagine in cause the way in which they imagine in chilly showers: It’s O.Ok. if you happen to don’t overdo it. Only a few individuals are so insensitive as to go round making use of logic to different individuals’s beliefs. The constant utility of cause to human affairs is irrational. It is usually harmful, as you shall quickly discover out.

The essential bother is that Fenwick, who may be very clever, assumes that different individuals are very clever, too. And that, imagine it or not, is the way in which he talks to them. This makes individuals uneasy, for nothing is extra unsettling than to be handled as in case you are extraordinarily clever—particularly by somebody you hardly know. To keep away from disillusioning such a person requires that you simply preserve a continuing state of alert, and suppose earlier than you communicate, which imposes merciless calls for in your mind. It even makes you look at the partly packaged platitudes you’ve gotten at all times employed as a substitute of considering. Few actions tire one out so quickly.

That is from an essay by Leo Rosten, a long-time buddy of Milton and Rose Friedman. “Fenwick” is Milton Friedman. Milton and Rose turned mates with Rosten within the Thirties, a reality I didn’t know till I learn their autobiography, Two Fortunate Folks. Rosten is the writer of, amongst others, The Joys of Yiddish, a e-book I’ve had on my shelf and dipped into for the reason that Nineteen Eighties, after I began wanting to grasp Yiddish higher (having married right into a Jewish household.)

I knew Milton fairly properly, having first met him in Might 1970. I believe Rosten has him precisely proper.

Learn the entire thing, which is pleasant.