Friedman (unit)

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 columnist 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.[7][12] Such pronouncements have been made by numerous politicians and military officials involved in the war.[13][14][15]

More generally, the concept can refer to any event or "critical period" which is repeatedly expected to happen in the near future, but repeatedly fails to occur.[16]

References

  1. ^ Black, Duncan (May 21, 2006). "The Six Monthers". Blogspot. http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_05_21_atrios_archive.html#114826445526365297. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  2. ^ "Friedman Finally Urges Fixed Date for U.S. Pullout". Editor & Publisher. December 7, 2006. http://www.mediainfo.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003494507. 
  3. ^ Klein, Ezra (December 8, 2006). "TAPPED". The American Prospect. http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=12&year=2006&base_name=post_2220#014758. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  4. ^ "Gen. Petreaus is in". Think Progress (Center for American Progress). February 28, 2007. http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/28/gen-petreaus-is-in/. Retrieved 2007-05-22. 
  5. ^ Drum, Kevin (November 1, 2006). "Meltdown in Iraq...". The Washington Monthly. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_11/009956.php. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  6. ^ Alterman, Eric (April 5, 2007). "The Politics of Pundit Prestige...". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070423/alterman. Retrieved 2007-04-10. 
  7. ^ a b Froomkin, Dan (May 8, 2007). "Four More Months?". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/05/08/BL2007050800898_pf.html. Retrieved 2007-05-09. 
  8. ^ Yglesias, Matthew (May 9, 2007). "More Friedman Units to Come". The Atlantic. http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/05/more_friedman_units_to_come.php. Retrieved 2007-05-09. 
  9. ^ "Media Winners of 2006: Honorable Mentions (Rapid-Fire Round II)". The Huffington Post. January 2, 2007. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eat-the-press/2007/01/02/media-winners-of-2006-ho_e_37571.html. Retrieved 2007-03-18. 
  10. ^ "Tom Friedman's Flexible Deadlines". Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. May 16, 2006. http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=2884. Retrieved 2007-05-22. 
  11. ^ Friedman, Thomas L (November 30, 2003). "The Chant Not Heard". The New York Times: 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 (November 30, 2005). "The Time Is (Perpetually) Now". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/29/AR2005112901283_pf.html. Retrieved 2007-05-11. 
  14. ^ "Iraq Timeline: The Broken Record on "the Next Few Months"". Center for American Progress. August 8, 2007. http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/08/timeline.html/. Retrieved 2007-08-08. 
  15. ^ Robinson, Eugene (September 11, 2007). "'Six Months' Without End". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/10/AR2007091002066.html. Retrieved 2007-09-11. 
  16. ^ "Futuristic Predictions as Consumable Goods". http://lesswrong.com/lw/hi/futuristic_predictions_as_consumable_goods/. Retrieved 3 November 2011. 

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