"It's Hard Out Here For A Scholar"

Last month, after rapper/“smartest man in pop music” Kanye West appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone in a cliched Kanye-as-Jesus photo, Jonah Goldberg wrote in his syndicated column:

We’re supposed to believe that West has been persecuted for his anti-Bush tirades and his determination to keep it real. But his biggest complaint is that people criticize him for being arrogant. “You want me to be great, but you don’t ever want me to say I’m great?” he asks.

Of course, the editors also hoped to stir up some controversy, maybe even incite some religious conservatives to play to type, by exploiting the imagery of Jesus’s suffering. I never went to Sunday school, but I don’t recall that Jesus was crucified for being smug.

It