User:CartoonDiablo/sandbox/Very Serious People

Very Serious People, Serious People, Very Serious Person (or VSP) is a sarcastically derogatory phrase given to pundits who are viewed as having respectable, conventional opinions but are actually wrong and foolish. Coined by Atrios, the term has since been used and popularized by Paul Krugman.

The term is generally used by liberal bloggers.

Origin and meaning


The phrase is generally considered to be coined by Atrios in 2010 but has been seen as early as 2007 by Kevin Drum. Atrios originally used it to mean "The idiotic assholes who rule us," in response to a video of Senator Alan Simpson with regards to the Bowles-Simpson Commission. The phrase has since been used by Paul Krugman to mean pundits that hold respected opinions but "keep demanding utterly foolish policies."

Steve Benen has summarized the phrase as such:

"The VSP is one of those Washington insiders that the political establishment respects and listens to, despite the fact that the person is (a) nearly always wrong; (b) habitually dishonest; or (c) both."

Usage
While often used to attack pundits that promote austerity during the 2007–2012 global financial crisis, it can also include pundits who hold opinions on foreign policy, structural unemployment, Bond vigilantes, the proposed Paul Ryan Budget and Occupy Wall Street.

People thought to be Very Serious
Among pundits considered to be Very Serious People are New York Times columnists Thomas Friedman and David Brooks. Among others are Carly Fiorina, Fareed Zakaria, and Michael O'Hanlon. As well, congressman Paul Ryan has been called "the quintessential Very Serious Person" or has been strongly associated with other VSPs.