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Another Blow to the Public Discourse
Several weeks ago, I had an idea for a piece that was “Times worthy.” I thought about the editors I know there, about the pieces I’ve written there recently and mulled over the prospect of pitching it there. I decided to write it for the Washington Examiner instead; it just wasn’t worth the risk. In the aftermath of the Senator Cotton op-ed, which many other conservatives watched with amusement and horror, I realized that there was a high likelihood that if it were published, a mob would come for me and the Times would leave me out to dry; if they did it with a sitting Senator, I wouldn’t stand a chance. I wondered what Bari, a friend and editor at the Times would think of my decision until today when she published her widely-read and discussed resignation letter. The whole thing is an essential read, but for the purposes of this post, I’ll flag this portion:
The truth is that intellectual curiosity—let alone risk-taking—is now a liability at The Times. Why edit something challenging to our readers, or write something bold only to go through the numbing process of making it ideologically kosher, when we can assure ourselves of job security (and clicks) by publishing our 4000th op-ed arguing that Donald Trump is a unique danger to the country and the world? And so self-censorship has become the norm.
Bari’s resignation isn’t the only bad sign for our national discourse; another centrist and signatory on the Harper’s letter on free speech, Andrew Sullivan, tendered his Twitter resignation today as well,
The underlying reasons for the split are pretty self-evident, and I’ll be discussing the broader questions involved in my last column this Friday.
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) July 14, 2020
This note from Sullivan’s now-former boss proves Bari’s point:
.@NYMag editor in chief David Haskell says he wants to hash out the liberal project, but that Andrew Sullivan is no longer "the right match" pic.twitter.com/XI3iexEcaT
— Ben Smith (@benyt) July 14, 2020
Since when did publishing ideas – conservative or liberal – have to fit with your “ideals” as a publication? When did that become the litmus test for if something should be published? Who sets those “ideals?” We hear from Weiss:
Twitter is not on the masthead of The New York Times. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor. As the ethics and mores of that platform have become those of the paper, the paper itself has increasingly become a kind of performance space.
It’s not just Twitter, but the woke colleagues at the Times who set off the mob in the first place; individuals like the below:
I wrote about these cakes! https://t.co/VLCDlC2o3lpic.twitter.com/PWevE0obcg
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) July 14, 2020
This is what the Times is now left with, a TikTok reporter who tells you all you need to know about viral cake videos. There is nothing more representative of the future of liberal thought and discourse than the fact that Bari Weiss left the New York Times today, and Taylor Lorenz wrote some groundbreaking content on cake for the Paper of Record.
Published in General
There is a virtue in consistency. I wonder if we’ll hear anything from the great and the good about this:
Actually if NYT subscribers pay $204/year that’s a bargain. My daily paper is much smaller than it used to be, and now costs…. let’s see… just under $600 per year.
I suppose the online-only NYT readers pay less than $204, and dead-tree subscribers pay a lot more.
Firstly that is the ambiance on Joe Rogan’s show. His format is a long casual meandering discussion. I am all for tradition and elegance, but as I have said in my other comments, conservatives have got to own up to the fact that you are the rebels, you are outside the mainstream and if you want to win elections you are going to have to interest young people and that means being a bit rock n’roll/Joe Rogan. OR you can wheel out Mitt Romney again, who spent the 1960s in Paris trying to convert people to Mormonism. Then you wonder where the kids are!
I beg to differ. I am a staunch Trump supporter but regret his vulgarity. It’s not a deal breaker because he is so right in so many ways. Even evangelicals forgive Trump’s vulgarity. But for pipsqueaks like Bari Weiss (and Bill Maher and Joe Rogan) vulgarity only makes their progressive views that much more disgusting.
If politics follows culture, we are doomed because the secular culture that encourages flinging of four-letter words is a permissive Democrat-friendly culture at its core.
Thanks for posting this – I had heard something was going on with Bari Weiss, but hadn’t seen what exactly it was yet. I read her resignation letter, and it was very sad but enlightening. I’m reminded of how Andrew Klavan always calls the Times “a former newspaper.” It used to be a joke, he said recently.
And my respect for Bill Maher goes up.
I used to have more respect for Maher. But the biggest problem I see with him is that he – and his audiences – yell and whoop and holler about various “freedom” things like pluralism etc, and then he – and they – go and vote for the party that believes and does the opposite.
I’m not sure if that’s actually hypocrisy, or just blind stupidity. But either way I can’t respect it.
Sometimes, jokes become prophesies.
ke,
You are on a roll. You get you extra points for this one.
Exactly so.
Regards,
Jim
Hey I tell people that I’ve had numerous pearls. Maybe not all my posts, but numerous for sure. :-)
I have heard Douglas Murray swear before, and he is the personification of refinement, eloquence and elegance. It is possible that Bari Weiss, who’s a little geeky, wanted to be Rogan-esque.
I understand what you mean by being against swearing and seeing it as a slippery slope towards… transgenderism etc. Reminds of me Roger Scruton talking about how crude our culture is. What if selective swearing was revealing of the grassroots authenticity and unpretentiousness of the conservative message? It could be a winner. Trump takes it very far, but horsing around with Joe Rogan can only help the conservative side.