New York Magazine
I got a kick out of reading the New York Magazine article that Mollie Hemingway linked to yesterday. If I hadn't gotten a first hand account of the voyage from my friends, Ricochet members Captain & Mrs. Spaulding, I might almost have believed the article's author, Joe Hagan, that the cruise was attended almost entirely by racist old white people. OK, not really, but Mr. Hagan's obsession with race was somewhat glaring to me. First of all, the article's lede paragraph is this:
The whole thing was white, and broken, that much was clear. A week after the presidential election, when the dreams of Republicans were dashed with President Barack Obama’s victory over Mitt Romney, we were snorkeling in the blue waters of the Caribbean. In the distance was a shipwreck. “You could make out the pieces of it,” said Ralph Reed, the right-wing political operator who had bolstered the Evangelical Christian vote for Romney. “It was deep and murky.”
Got that? The shipwreck is a metaphor for...THE GOP!
In case his readership is dense, Hagan includes several other clues that the GOP is white, and old, and rich. I won't recount them here, since you can all go and read the article for yourself, if you haven't already. Here's my favorite, though (emphasis added by me):
The last event before cocktails and dinner was a lecture by Deroy Murdock, the only black National Review speaker. It was a curious outlier on the agenda, titled “How the Music of Memphis and Motown Helped Bury Jim Crow,” and set in a smaller, more intimate venue midship. Murdock was wearing a red satin dinner jacket and a black bow tie, presumably to look like a Motown singer. About 50 people attended, sitting on white leather lounge chairs, and there was a Rolling Stones tongue logo on a screen behind him as he cued up “Brown Sugar” on the sound system.
Murdock got the all-white crowd clapping along, including the venerable neoconservative intellectuals Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter, who smiled broadly.
“Brown Sugar! / How come it tastes so good?”
When the music faded, Murdock, in a studious tone, read from his prepared notes: “It’s only rock and roll, but we like it!”
Got that? There was only one black guy. And the audience was all white. And the black guy needed notes.
Hagan sure is obsessed with the racial composition of National Review (in my opinion).
By the way this is Joe Hagan:
Since Joe kept talking about National Review and who was white and who wasn't, it got me pondering, who works for New York Magazine? So I found their masthead and did some quick googling.
First of all, here is Larry Burstein (on the right), the publisher of New York Magazine:
New York Magazine Staff
Editorial
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Editor-in-Chief Adam Moss
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Executive Editor John Homans (on the left)
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Editorial Director Jared Hohlt
- Managing Editor Ann Clarke (couldn't find a picture)
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Deputy Editor Jon Gluck (on the left) (Adam Moss again on the right)
- Design Director Thomas Alberty (couldn't find a picture)
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Photography Director Jody Quon
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Culture Editor Lane Brown (on the left) (Tracy Morgan, who doesn't work for New York Magazine, is on the right)
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Strategist Editor Ashlea Halpern
- News Editor James Burnett (Couldn't find a picture)
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Features Editor David Haskell
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Senior Editors
Christopher BonanosRebecca Milzoff
Raha Naddaf (Couldn't find a picture)
Carl Rosen (Couldn't find a picture)
Alexis Swerdloff
- Food Editors Robert Patronite, Robin Raisfeld (Couldn't find pictures)
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Fashion Director Amy Larocca
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Associate Editor Patti Greco
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Editor-at-Large Carl Swanson
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Shopping Editor Jessica Silvester (I'm pretty sure she's the one on the right)
OK, about now I'm getting bored. This is only the print edition's editorial staff, but have I made my point clear yet?
What does this prove, anyway?
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing. I mean, seriously. Who cares about the racial make-up of magazine staff and readership?
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Comments:
Dec '10
Re: New York Magazine
Not only white, but all of them-- by appearances-- seem to be milquetoast hipsters. Every single blessed one of them.
I mean, if you walked into a cocktail party populated by all of those people, dressed the way they are with the associated eyewear, haircuts, and accessories, would you have any doubt whatsoever what all of these people think about all major issues?
Sure, you'd probably be wrong once or twice. There could be a Paul-ista hiding in there, somewhere. But those exceptions would prove the rule.
Jul '10
Re: New York Magazine
Rob Long: This is perfect!
You know, he was actually a nice guy.
He wasn't, really. He just made you think so.
“Every journalist who is not too stupid or full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.”
― Janet Malcolm
Apr '11
Re: New York Magazine
Thank God Derb was not on the cruise this year.
Apr '12
Re: New York Magazine
Those New Yorkers look so pale, they need a good steak. They also seem to be from one main cultural group too. On ricochet, I have heard from a wide range of lifestyles and viewpoints. This bunch seem to be city, pale and nerdy. Why on earth would I look to them for input? Give me a Ricochet podcast any day.
Aug '11
Re: New York Magazine
Derb was booted from NRO. I didn't agree with that but I can see why. But does Ricochet have a problem with Derb posting? I don't think it's right to say Derb is "toxic." I wouldn't mind Derb on a podcast on this site.
Oct '11
Re: New York Magazine
Goldgeller
Derb was booted from NRO. I didn't agree with that but I can see why. But does Ricochet have a problem with Derb posting? I don't think it's right to say Derb is "toxic." I wouldn't mind Derb on a podcast on this site. · 13 minutes ago
The point wmartin was making, I believe, is that Joe Hagan's head would have exploded if he heard Derb giving a speech.
Aug '10
Re: New York Magazine
What a load of typical NY crap ! The first metaphor , based on Blue's Clues shows the writer may actually be 14 years old. And that was post-Steve.
Deroy Murdock, of Costa Rican heritage, who gets to play this liberal's straw token , could take this guy apart faster than anyone in Django Unchained or Django Reinhardt , I can guarantee his knowledge of both is probably encyclopedic . Of course, he doesn't know that, like so much else. Nice comparison would have been to count the veterans on this cruise versus the Nation magazine cruise . (2nd prize is 2 Nation cruises !) It has one black person and 2 Code Pinks ones, the rest all pinko.
Effete, class warfare gobbledly gook.
Was Zubrin on the cruise ? If they would put him in the bar between Mike Walsh and Bob Zubrin, that is a youtube I would glad pay the big bux for !! Did Ed Driscoll notice the Joseph A Banks attire ? Jonah probably saw the hairweave from his vantage.
Who stuck the sign on this guy's back ?
Apr '11
Re: New York Magazine
Albert Arthur
Goldgeller
Derb was booted from NRO. I didn't agree with that but I can see why. But does Ricochet have a problem with Derb posting? I don't think it's right to say Derb is "toxic." I wouldn't mind Derb on a podcast on this site. · 13 minutes ago
The point wmartin was making, I believe, is that Joe Hagan's head would have exploded if he heard Derb giving a speech. · 40 minutes ago
Yes, that was exactly my point. And I too would love to have Derb be a guest on a podcast sometime.
Feb '12
Re: New York Magazine
My only thought after seeing this was to wonder if 600 people would sign up to cruise with them.
We are a 50/50 slit nation, give the Democrats a few million more this year, so the liberals would be wrong to assume the fears over the state of our nation come from an extreme right group of cruisers rather than mainstream Americans.
Apr '11
Re: New York Magazine
A.A., what a way to spend your holiday! Now go have another eggnog.
Mar '11
Re: New York Magazine
James Lileks: Ditto what Rob said.
Also, where are the fact checkers at New York? It wasn't a week after the election, it was ten days when we were at Roatan. For that matter, the world's second most famous nautical metaphor - the first being the Titanic, of course - was intentionally scuttled to provide amusement for tourists. Surely he could have extracted more symbolism from that. · 8 hours ago
Your expectations for the opposition are too damn high.
Feb '11
Re: New York Magazine
Who needs facts when you have the truth on your side?
(I know that's a contradiction - but they don't.)
Apr '11
Re: New York Magazine
That was the speakers list, right? One black (a staffer), one Oriental, no Hispanics (Joan Baez doesn't count--she's a special musical guest).