Rationalizing Irrationality

John Cassidy’s rants on the subject of bike lanes may not have demonstrated his bona fides as an economics reporter, but they have proved his worth as a reliable page view generator for the New Yorker website.  Thanks to the three irrational screeds Cassidy has written in as many days, the subject, at least for now, warrants an entire tab on the website’s banner.

It’s such a page-view generator for them that the tab abuts to the two things that make the New Yorker the New Yorker: urbane cartoons and high-minded news analysis:

Cassidy’s blog on the New Yorker site is titled Rational Irrationality, but given the hole he continues to dig for himself–a hole he has so far not filled in with facts–I suggest a new title: Rationalizing Irrationality.

The subject has even pitted neighbor versus neighbor at the Condé Nast.  Hendrik Hertzberg has joined the Cassidy smackdown parade:

I was interested to note that John currently gets around in “an old Jaguar XJ6.” The last time I saw him behind the wheel, he was piloting a vintage Cadillac Sedan de Ville, a car whose fuel economy is best calculated in gallons per mile. Apparently he is “going green.” At this rate he’ll be driving a Prius by 2050.

But that’s Hertzberg for you.  Just another member of the radical bicycle lobby.