31–40 of 716 posts
It always amazes me when the people who champion "the centrality of the free exchange of ideas to a democratic society" will also turn around and say something like their political beliefs being mocking by coworkers is "unlawful discrimination". She doesn't want free speech. She wants consequence free speech. She wants her detractors silenced by the law. What a hypocrite.
Since she hasn't filed discrimination lawsuit, I read it as mocking the victim culture that prevades the others.
There is an submission on HN "Do journalists pay too much attention to Twitter?"
I guess we know Bari Weiss's answer.
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.
Great summary of everything I feel that has gone wrong at the NYT, cancel culture, and the left-wing gladiatorial combat that is trying to root out any hint of disagreement with orthodoxy now that all center and conservatives have been purged. I highly recommend reading this. If you want more opinions from progressives that feel cancel culture has stifled free speech, is illiberal, and also illogical, listen to the B…
Bari Weiss never seemed very principled in her stances though, so I don't think she's a good counterpoint.
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.
Live by the gun -
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…
"Instead, a new consensus has emerged in the press, but perhaps especially at [the New York Times]: that truth isn't a process of collective discovery, but an orthodoxy already known to an enlightened few whose job is to inform everyone else." This is a very key point, and what are the consequences of "informing everyone of a truth" that doesn't accurately reflect -- of even contradicts! -- reality? Harm to the reput…
This might be the most ironic and most dangerous effect of this "right think" regime: that the free expression and exchange of ideas is thwarted in advance because one doesn't want to deal with drama, fight, or insults that come with saying something not in lock-step with the prevailing group-think. This blunts the curiosity of the intellect and silences all true disciples of knowledge and science if what they say -- even if they have the math to prove their point -- contradicts the currently popular "common truth."
For this to be happening at what was THE preeminent example of American freedom of the press is chilling... and Orwellian.
FWIW, this resignation letter strikes me as unfair to those it accuses, because the author provides zero concrete, specific examples of the constant public bullying she claims led her to resign from the New York Times. The accused cannot argue or defend themselves against generic accusations.