Captain of our fairy band

[Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas] van Praag seems to take obvious pleasure in the parries, ripostes, and counter-ripostes he makes to attacks upon his employer. He delivers them with a studied and almost ornate verbal style that conveys the message that not only are you wrong, but also he is smarter and better-educated than you. In my experience, this modus operandi tends to play better in Mr. van Praag’s native Britain, where the art of sharp, witty, spirited debate is still seriously practiced by public figures and enjoyed by most spectators. But here in the United States, schizophrenic home to both the largest number of elite universities in the world and the broadest-based strain of anti-intellectualism known to Western democracy, the aggressive debating style of lobbing witty insults at your opponent only plays well on reruns of Monty Python. If you doubt me, just look at the inarticulate clods we elect to public office. Most of these morons cannot even deliver a coherent speech, much less bandy about gerunds and subjunctive clauses in the midst of a heated argument. Most Americans would probably try to impeach them if they did. This is just not a country where you can use words like “egregious,” “febrile,” and “chimera” in public without running the risk of being lynched for general asshattery.