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Resignation Letter

bariweiss.com

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Re: Resignation Letter

#21

Post by abnercoimbre »

wait_a_minute wrote: post #6

That this is true at what is supposed to be a reputable publication like The New York Times makes me worried for companies and less known publications. Because if it's happening at the elite end of what is supposed to be curiosity-driven investigation, why wouldn't it be happening elsewhere? And so you end up with a culture where you can't speak about anything, where challenging the orthodoxy means you'll be forced i…

To add to this, the author gives Twitter a lot of weight as the culpable factor.

So many important people by now see the birdsite as a genuine net-negative yet it keeps chirping along with no changes. A bit baffling.

Re: Resignation Letter

#22

Post by akhilcacharya »

jger15 wrote: post #2

think this makes the paper less interesting (regardless of political views held)

The masthead lost all credibility with this article [0] days before the election. They did spend lots of time and effort understanding the rest of America (sure, that’s fine and good) with little understanding or reflection of their own impact.

[0] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-el...

Re: Resignation Letter

#24

Post by LegitShady »

alecb wrote: post #4

There's several layers of irony here, chief of which Bari Weiss headed a very vocal campaign to fire anyone at Colombia who didn't exist on the far-right on Israel/Palestine - and of course, falsely painted several professors as racist and anti-Semitic: https://theintercept.com/2018/03/08/the-nyts-bari-weiss-fals...

There are many things I disagree with Weiss on, including her previous flirtation with cancel culture, but by attacking her with an article from 2 years ago instead of addressing what she is talking about directly is not really honest debate.

There is a cleaving point coming for those who believe in Liberal values and the nyt has already chosen the side of extreme ideological orthodoxy.

Re: Resignation Letter

#25

Post by jakelazaroff »

ReptileMan wrote: post #13
jakelazaroff wrote: post #7

> All this bodes ill, especially for independent-minded young writers and editors paying close attention to what they’ll have to do to advance in their careers. Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril. Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes against the narrative. Rule Three: Never believe an editor or publisher who urges you to go against the grain. Eventually, the publisher will cave to the mob, th…

Well the Tom Cotton op ed drama was literally this.

Tom Cotton is a sitting US Senator. Denying him op–ed space is in no way tantamount to "silencing" him.

Re: Resignation Letter

#26

Post by kup0 »

alecb wrote: post #4

There's several layers of irony here, chief of which Bari Weiss headed a very vocal campaign to fire anyone at Colombia who didn't exist on the far-right on Israel/Palestine - and of course, falsely painted several professors as racist and anti-Semitic: https://theintercept.com/2018/03/08/the-nyts-bari-weiss-fals...

Yeah hard to take seriously someone who was "masquerading as an opponent of viewpoint intolerance" while simultaneously being intolerant of any viewpoints that aren't pro-Israel

Re: Resignation Letter

#27

Post by AnimalMuppet »

> 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. Stories are chosen and told in a way to satisfy the narrowest of audiences, rather than to allow a curious public to read about the world and then draw their own conclusions. I was always taught that journalists were charged with writing the first rough draft of history. Now, history itself is one more ephemeral thing molded to fit the needs of a predetermined narrative.

In other words, the New York Times isn't leading. It's following the crowd on Twitter. And in abdicating the role of finding out the truth and saying it, the NYT gave up relevance. (We don't need them to echo Twitter. Twitter does that just fine. And we don't need them for performance theater, either - we've got Broadway.)

> There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly “inclusive” one...

"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." - Inigo Montoya

Can't anyone there see past the current insanity and think? "To be inclusive, we have to get rid of her"? Don't they even hear the words coming out of their own mouths?

Re: Resignation Letter

#28

Post by mellosouls »

There seems to be more and more public acknowledgement (and in fora like this one) of the myriad leftist 1984-style attacks we are currently witnessing - every bit as bad as the McCarthy era led by the right.

As appalling as the behaviour of these people is, that growing awareness can only be a good thing.

Re: Resignation Letter

#30

Post by seibelj »

jakelazaroff wrote: post #7

> All this bodes ill, especially for independent-minded young writers and editors paying close attention to what they’ll have to do to advance in their careers. Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril. Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes against the narrative. Rule Three: Never believe an editor or publisher who urges you to go against the grain. Eventually, the publisher will cave to the mob, th…

This is the latest argument from people who claim cancel culture doesn't exist. "How are you being silenced when everyone will read it from your high perch?"

High-level writers need to push back against illiberal and anti-free speech proponents to give cover for the lower ranks. If even the top tier writers can't speak their mind, does the lowly intern or new hire stand a chance?

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