Friedman (unit)

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The Friedman, or Friedman Unit (F.U.), is a tongue-in-cheek neologism coined by blogger Atrios (Duncan Black) on May 21, 2006.[1]

A Friedman is a unit of time equal to six months in the future.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The Huffington Post cited it as the "Best New Phrase" of 2006.[9]

The term is in reference to a May 16, 2006 article by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) detailing journalist Thomas Friedman's repeated use[10] of "the next six months" as the period in which, according to Friedman, "we're going to find out...whether a decent outcome is possible" in the Iraq War. As documented by FAIR, Friedman had been making such six-month predictions for a period of two and a half years, on at least fourteen different occasions, starting with a column in the November 30, 2003 edition of The New York Times, in which he stated: "The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time."[11]

The term has been used in general to describe any pronouncement of a critical period for the U.S. occupation of Iraq.[12][7] Such pronouncements have been made by numerous politicians and military officials involved in the war.[13][14][15]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Black, Duncan (21 May 2006). The Six Monthers. Blogspot. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  2. ^ Friedman Finally Urges Fixed Date for U.S. Pullout. Editor & Publisher (7 December 2006).
  3. ^ Klein, Ezra. "TAPPED", The American Prospect, December 8, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-18. 
  4. ^ "Gen. Petreaus is in", Think Progress, Center for American Progress, February 28, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-22. 
  5. ^ Drum, Kevin. "Meltdown in Iraq...", The Washington Monthly, November 1, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-03-18. 
  6. ^ Alterman, Eric. "The Politics of Pundit Prestige...", The Nation, April 5, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-10. 
  7. ^ a b Froomkin, Dan. "Four More Months?", The Washington Post, May 8, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-09. 
  8. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (9 May 2007). More Friedman Units to Come. The Atlantic. Retrieved on 2007-05-09.
  9. ^ Rachel Sklar, Nick Douglas, Sven Hodges, Melissa Lafsky, Ankush Khardori. "Media Winners of 2006: Honorable Mentions (Rapid-Fire Round II)", The Huffington Post, January 2, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-18. 
  10. ^ Tom Friedman's Flexible Deadlines. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (May 16, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-05-22.
  11. ^ Friedman, Thomas L. "The Chant Not Heard", The New York Times, November 30, 2003, p. WK 9. 
  12. ^ Mitchell, Greg. So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits--and the President--Failed on Iraq. Excerpted at Salon.com. ISBN 9781402756573
  13. ^ Milbank, Dana. "The Time Is (Perpetually) Now", Washington Post, November 30, 2005. Retrieved on 2007-05-11. 
  14. ^ Iraq Timeline: The Broken Record on "the Next Few Months". Center for American Progress (08 August 2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-08.
  15. ^ Robinson, Eugene. "'Six Months' Without End", Washington Post, September 11, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 

[edit] External links