The left has let a minority of tyrants shape their culture. Instead of laughing at the PC/Woke nut cases, like good little lemmings they march in mass right off the cliff. We should be laughing at the PC/Woke morons not taking them seriously. I don't understand it. Maybe the left's brains are wired differently than mine.
Speaking of lemmings…about 20-30 or so years ago Alan Arkin wrote a very charming book, The Lemming Condition. Nominally a children’s book, it actually ought to be for children of all ages.
The problem is people tend to be more nuanced than that, and the views can change by topic. If you are outraged by the possibility of Roe V Wade being overturned, I would consider you on the left. If you believe in packing the court to get the desired outcome, you are on the left. If you are pro-choice and for vaccine mandates, you are on the left. If you want more government and believe the government can solve problems, you are on the left. If you are for CRT in schools, you are on the left. If you believe someone under 18 can’t be tried as an adult but is responsible enough to make decisions about gender identity and abortion, you are on the left. If you believe that censoring speech you don’t like, you are on the left. If you believe in science, but want to suppress any narrative that doesn’t fit the current agenda, you are on the left. The left use to fight for freedom. Freedom of speech. Freedom from government. Freedom of thought. They have gained power and now fight against what they used to fight for.
Keep in mind there is no generally accepted definition. This is my personal and singular to me definition. The left, in representing the political spectrum is associated in general with equity(rather than equality) and federal control of the major institutions of political and economic life. It generally denegrates Christianity and Israel, though this is not universal to the left. Classical Liberalism usually falls to the Center away from current Left.
I agree! I was first introduced to this publication with What Happened Last Night in Virginia, became intrigued and knew I was going to stay after Why Are We Boosting Kids. I also still often think about The Takeover of America’s Legal System.
Hey Penny - Welcome back!!! We are so happy to have you back to normal and celebrating your individual voice. Lock step ideology is no way for anyone to live or think.
The only constructive act that the labeling folks have is calling people a conservative. Alan, please do not steal their thunder. That would be oppressive.
Like it or not, it was a joke. As a male I found it funny. If you didn’t like it, bummer for you. Move along nothing to see here. Absolutely no reason to take it down or apologize.
I came across this parable earlier this morning. It seems appropriate for anyone caught in the Middle School Antics that no none should have to endure. Credit goes to Joseph Bonner.
“A father told his daughter, "Congrats on your graduation. I bought you a car a while back. I want you to have it now."
Before I give it to you, take it to a car dealer in the city and sell it. See how much they offer.”
The girl came back to her father and said: "They offered me $10,000 dollars because it looks very old"
Father said: "Ok, now take it to the pawn shop".
The girl returns to her father and said: "The pawn shop offered $1,000 dollars because it's a very old car and a lot of work done".
The father told her to join a passionate car club with experts and show them the car. The girl drove to the passionate car club. She returned to her father after a few hours and told him, “Some people in the club offered me $100,000 dollars because its a rare car that's in good condition.”
Then the father said, "I wanted to let you know that you are not worth anything if you are not in the right place. If you are not appreciated, do not be angry, that means you are in the wrong place. "Don't stay in a place where no one sees your value ."
I went to a very tough school a long time ago (post-50th reunion now). And I always get emails from there. Couple years ago I got a Jeff Foxworthyesque one saying that you might have gone there if you know thus and so (there followed a litany of specific places and activities on campus).
I thought this was really too parochial. I wrote back that you probably went there if you’re really pretty smart and you know a whole lot of people who are a good deal smarter than you are.
And none of your friends believe you.
[I got an almost immediate reply asking if they could use that.]
As a young person, I over-valued myself. Having been (figuratively) kicked around a bit, I learned that if I was underappreciated it might be because I was under-performing. That too, was an important lesson to learn.
The trick, Timothy, is to know if you're in the wrong place. If you don't know the value in yourself to begin with, not confident in yourself, then you can stay in the wrong place your entire life, unappreciated - because you yourself believe in their judgement of you.
Paul Ryan, while Speaker of the House, read it and discussed it. The msm crucified him for that. They didn’t vilify Obama for reading it while he was in the WH.
In 2011 the movie Atlas Shrugged was rereleased. The left went nuts. They thought it would destroy the left and the Democrat Party because it promoted rugged individualism. The Democrats could not stand the thought of a person who could stand on her or his two feet without government assistance.
I apologize if I hurt any leftist on this BBS by using the pronouns her and his when you would have preferred them or they.
Take a look at Michael Shellenberger's substack - he's a former lefty, sorta former, and is running for Gov of CA against the shill known as Gavin Newsom. He has ideas on how better to deal with CA's epidemic of mentally ill and drug addicted people living on the streets. The enabling and coddling approach is a visible and tragic failure and a hot topic in the coming election. I know the establishment will likely squeeze him out using their unlimited funds and propaganda machine but at least his voice is being heard and people are beginning to pay attention.
Interesting - is that where she got the name or just a fact worth sharing? It's a shame that his model seems to be overwhelmed today. Yes, the people who need help are out in the community but far too few of them are being effectively treated. I am in no way advocating for the old sadistic state mental hospital system of his day but rather saying that what is being done now isn't working. I don't know what the solution is but we can't keep sweeping the problem under rug.
Yep. Ignore the slings and arrows of those who don't believe in you, listen to everyone, accept what seems right and reject the rest, and get on with life.
I didn't like the joke- all it was missing was a "women love shopping!" reference. That said, who gives a shit? Is there a law that I have to like every joke?
When the mob comes for Felicia Sonmez is she going to be surprized?
That reminds me of what Adrian Bott said: “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.”
The only way The Mob will come for Felicia Sonmez is if she has a falling out with Taylor Lorenz, who then leads the mob against her. Right now, the two of them RUN the Mob.
As a female I found it funny because there was a lot of truth in it. Good grief, don't they teach the old childhood rhyme, "sticks and stones," any more?
As a female, I found it funny! It seems there’s a more eloquent quote about this, but my opinion is if we can’t laugh at ourselves, we are taking ourselves (our sex, our identity, etc.) too seriously!
One obvious characteristic about people who adhere to The Narrative is that they have no sense of humor. Anger and fear are the only two emotions we're allowed -- not laughter, and certainly not if the joke's punchline is directed at a demographic that are considered Marginalized.
Feliza Sonmez knows full well it was a joke - it's just that journalists nowadays would sell their mothers souls and do ANYTHING to rise to the top of the woke heap. That in itself is comical to watch (except for the poor folks caught in the trap)
I made a comment about this very thing. Is there no metric for productivity in that workplace? I remember a place I worked in my youth that had a poster on the wall that read "If you've got time to lean you've got time to clean" accompanying a funny drawing of a slacker leaning against the wall. In today's world he would have a phone in his hand.
It's a bit like when Trump sarcastically joked to ask the Russians where Hillary's e-mails were. Every New Yorker knew it was a joke because that's New York humor - mocking and sarcastic. They leftist ones only pretended he was serious.
Care to provide a link? I think I've read everything he's written for at least the last 7 years and don't recall anything like that or that implied that. Nor does Google come up with anything.
He said it on a Ricochet podcast several years ago. I couldn’t believe it. But I can’t provide a link—though I did comment that I thought what he said was absurd. So I get it if you want to disagree. Totally fair. Though it’s kind of like his more recently revealed tweet in which he expressed incredulousness that his peers would just believe the Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Ridicule ensued after the censored stories were later reported to be true.
No. The cynical ones used his words against him like D-Day did to Daniel-san in My Cousin Vinny. "I shot the clerk." All in the name of getting elected. Douchebags.
People who ascribe to what Bari accurately refers to as The Narrative are seeking power to control discourse, destroy the lives & careers of anyone who goes against it, and spread a vindictive mentality that obliterates the veneer of "adult" professionalism that legal adults in journalism (or any vocation, really) were once expected to uphold. Other expectations such as honesty, objectivity, and courage of one's convictions are now also out the door. All that matters now is fealty to The Narrative. Even some of the old guard journalists whom Bari mentioned are still there are joining in on this, either to protect the careers & respect in the industry they spent decades building or, let's face it, they may happen to have the personality type and/or emotional issues (or desire for power over discourse) that The Narrative appeals to and seduces.
Many people are afraid. It's so very difficult to stand up against the mob. Ask some of the front line doctors who tried to warn against lockdowns and vaccine mandates. Some states (California) are going after their licenses. If a doctor has their license revoked they can't work. If a journalist has to leave a publication they can create a Substack, or find another avenue for gainful employment.
There are too many current examples of lives ruined by malicious and vindictive gossip and false accusations. Ask Dr. Sabatini about having had a relationship with a now vindictive woman. Ask Weigel about working alongside one. Refer to the recent Common Sense submission from the wife of Dr. Katz. If this doesn't send a deep chill down anyone's spine to lay low and either remain silent or join the frenzied mob, what does?
What I find offensive about Weigel's retweet is that by doing so he re-affirms the concept of "bipolar" as a synonym (edit: I really meant euphemism) for "batshit crazy person"
I thought it was worth a smile. Just like silly jokes about men, it means no harm and is a play on words. He should never have taken it down or apologized. I do find it ironic that in July of '21 he made fun of those complaining about cancel culture....
What do floor tiles and men have in common? If you lay either of them down correctly the first time, you can walk over them the rest of your life.
Was it sexist against men? Well, yeah, I suppose, but it was all in good fun and I laughed hysterically rather than getting offended and insisting that the person who told it get suspended without pay from their job for a month.
Look at how she's been rewarded. I read two different articles about this today. Her name was featured prominently in each. She was a no one yesterday and today she is a Lefty darling. Gosh, she can now go in and ask for a raise. I would advise her to be sure it's a man she is asking the raise from. If he doesn't give it to her she can Tweet about his anti-feminist attitudes and have her troll followers go after him. That ought to work. She's a feminist heroine now.
Hell of it is, she was rising fast without having to launch witch hunts. At her age, to have been a Beijing correspondent for the New York Times, then come home to be a national political reporter? Journalism careers don't get any better than that.
In the old days her throwing colleagues under the bus would have gotten her blackballed in the industry. Now, it gets her clicks, likes, and fame that will leap her into an editor hood or her own cable TV gig.
She may have been rising but this jettisoned her to the top of the heap. It has made her radioactive at her employment. This has become an unhappy pattern. The accusers, finger pointers, and slanderers not only get a pass on their malicious destruction but they are rewarded for it. We have seen this again and again in academia, government and business. It's a horrible new trend.
This same trend is also very obvious in Hollywood and the entertainment industry as well. Check out how many celebrities on Twitter are mindlessly woke compared to those who aren't, for instance. It's the same in the publishing industry that produces genre fiction, where I work.
She wants not just respect that is earned from her merits as a journalist, but power to destroy those that offend her. The woke mentality encourages people to be hypersensitive and to see "microaggressions" against designated minority groups everywhere they look. That's why they do not have a sense of humor. The Narrative also encompasses the worldview that the civil rights movement essentially just started and that Western culture and institutions are still filled to the brim with racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc. I could believe that better if the multiple individuals blatantly demonizing white male cis-heteros on Twitter were the ones being de-platformed and let go from their jobs.
I am not blind to the recent mass shootings by those with white supremacist ideologies, with their fears of "the great replacement theory," but what reports about them usually fail to mention is that there are also recent mass shootings carried out by people of color against random white people (including cops) and even a California incident by a Chinese man against Thaienese people due to the ethnic-based animosity created between them by the Chinese government due to its ongoing issue with the One China policy that Biden is predictably exploiting to create tensions with China (so even more money can be funneled into the war industry, capitalism's bread and butter). Glenn Greenwald did an excellent article on this over on Substack and I likewise did one on Medium. The various governments of the world's ruling classes routinely turn different segments of the working class against each other, and the extremist elements on both the Right and the Left are falling right into their hands. Yes, straight white men do not behave well when given disproportionate power over other demograhics in a class-divided system, but this "woke" nonsense proves an aspect of history that the Far Left doesn't want to hear: people of color, women, and LGBTQ people do not behave any better when the reins of power shift to them. This is how everyone behaves in a ruthlessly competitive system with massive disparities of wealth.
Please don't blame this on "a ruthlessly competitive system with massive disparities in wealth."
I remember reading about carving up the pie on the Left. The pie has not gotten one bit larger so the various groups within it have to vie to make their slice larger. They become more extreme as a result. Eventually they will turn on each other. Shades of Robespierre.
I blame it on the nature of the capitalist system because its laws and expectations are all about high stakes competition, with some having to get less in order for others to get more, disparity of wealth and power being a fact of life, the most ruthless tending to rise to the top, and scapegoating various groups to deflect scorn and scrutiny from the system itself being a common facet of a corporate owned media. Such a system is going to have a profound effect on how we live our lives and our behavior towards each other. And blaming each other instead of the system is exactly what the 1% wants, which is exactly why we see the corporate elites in Hollywood, big tech, and the military & intelligence agencies lining up to promote the "woke" agenda. We need to root out the main cause rather than presuming this happens in a vacuum. Capitalism does not work for the vast majority of us, and we of the 99% need to disabuse ourselves of that notion lest we continue smothering in an endless cycle of war, poverty, and divisive identity politics.
Improving their financial lot and opportunities, and the power to destroy anyone who opposes them, in this ruthlessly competitive, dog-eat-dog capitalist system is what the woke in positions of power are hoping to achieve. Those who are not in positions of power are hoping to get there by promoting The Narrative as loudly as possible, even though they are well aware it can come to bite any of them in the ass if they aren't careful enough with what they say, or if a tweet they made 5 years ago saying something it was considered ok to say back then is suddenly unearthed. It has nothing to do with improving the condition of any particular group. They have elevated victimhood from something very unfortunate into something that everyone wants to be.
It’s amusing to see leftists repeatedly blame capitalism for innate human behaviors.
The psychological basis of cancel mobbing is the evolved human trait of coalition building. Designating certain behaviors as morally repugnant recruits strong emotion-level group cohesion. And when everyone in the group is morally offended, a clear sign of commitment to the group is to be more outraged than most. And then any voice of moderation becomes a signal of disloyalty to the group. Then the mandatory shared moral indignation becomes more important than the substance of the offense.
So this familiar dynamic occurs repeatedly throughout history--- whether the offense is being a witch, a heretic, a conspirator, a cultural appropriator, a micro-aggressor, etc. Capitalism didn’t cause the Salem witch trials
I disagree, Naomi. Capitalism is all about competition, since there is a price tag on everything and every item or service is dispensed on the basis of individual ability to pay for it, not need, with an increasing number of jobs paying us too little to afford even our most basic necessities despite our numerous hours of hard work per week. Hence, it's essential for the capitalist class to pit segments of the working class against each other to deter class unity that will demand the full fruit of our labor for everyone. That results in ideologies such as white supremacy on one extreme and hatred against white people on the other end and every other variation of both (e.g., misogyny and misandry), everyone fighting for this or that demographic within the 99% gaining nominal privileges over the biggest share of crumbs while the 1% truly live in opulent luxury as we're too busy fighting each other and blaming each other to fight and blame them. And we do this at a time when technological advances enable us to provide an abundance for all. People do not behave in such a way "just because." We behave as our environmental circumstances compel us to behave. Class divisions are no longer necessary due to the advances in technology we enjoy today, which is why we need to get over our stubborn loyalty to a system that has outived its historic usefulness and only works for a mere 1% of the global population.
We'd be living in a cynical world where a small but vocal group of people controlled all the discourse and punished us for going against their imposed rules.
Bill, you find a sexist joke funny, and an anti-Semitic find this joke funny: the Jews make a special dough for Passover; the rest of the year, they're making dough to rule the world. Do the same rules apply?
Yes. I suggest you read up on Don Rickles. Made lots of money by making people laugh at absurd caricatures of human nature. Gilbert Gottfried, too. Even Jackie the Joke Man.
Yep, that too. George Carlin has a great bit about Daffy Duck (edit: it's actually Elmer Fudd, sorry for the misquote George-RIP) being raped by Porky Pig. Jonathan Swift went one better than molestation. He wanted to eat little boys and girls.
I dont agree with everything you say, I am a middle of the road conservative without a party. I gladly pay for this subscription along with Matt Taibbi anda couple other liberal writers because I know when you & Matt write something its factual and unbiased. THANK YOU BARI FOR ALWAYS PROVIDING AWESOME ESSAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I gave up on CNN long ago. It once was a very good news site but those days are decades in the past. It seemed to me their blatant bias came to the fore when Bill Clinton became president.
The writers up here have plenty of biases. Thing is, they are open about them. They tell you what they see/believe/observe.
What Bari's substack hasn't done, at least to date, is damage someone for writing what they believe. It seems to me, they require the author's to make an objective case -- for or against -- whatever it is they are arguing. And let people decide for themselves.
When I first heard about you was over the Tom Cotton debacle at the NYT. You were not afraid to tell the truth. That is all I ask for in any journalist, film critic, artist, comedian, scientist. To not be so afraid of telling the truth that you go along with groupthink/hysteria. When we talk about the "fourth turning" - Neil Howe and William Strauss' generational theory, there are "alpha voices" that begin to lead once we live through the worst of it (we're in the thick of it now). You are absolutely one of those. You are an alpha voice, a natural leader - fearless, inquisitive, humble, honest. Thank you.
By the Tom Cotton standard, a huge chunk of NYT employees should have been fired. For cause.
Sen. Cotton's op-ed was bad, but publishing it was the right call. The words of a US Senator with little editing is completely appropriate to publish. We want to know what our political leaders are actually thinking, and not some varnished version of it. Cotton did that. And an NYT employee lost his job over it. That was the travesty.
I am related by marriage to a Turkish journalist who retweeted something at the start of covid that was mildly critical of Erdogan. He was arrested, spent a month in prison, then released.
Have we become that different from an authoritarian dictator state?
Nope. Pete Navarro learned that the hard way. Merrick Garland is nothing but a snotty, nerdly little Beria impersonator. He is quickly earning the same fate.
That's sad to hear. We are not quite there yet, ours is more like "you get fired and can't get another job and be in respectable company." But I am sure some Americans would like us to be there.
This essay is right up there with your resignation letter, which turned me on to you in the first place. You just nailed it. Thank you for what you are doing. Please keep it up. You are making a difference.
When I taught in the English department at a university I had a cartoon on my bulletin board of two women in a bookstore, one behind a desk explaining: "This is a feminist bookstore. There is no humor section." Guess good thing I had tenure.
Sure, it’s misogynistic, and misogyny, boys and girls, is bad! I wholeheartedly agree! But humor exists as a safety valve or maybe the better metaphor is a meat grinder. You pass those violent, sexist, unacceptable thoughts through the grinder, and they come out as something shredded and harmless.
Or, at least, that’s how it seems to me.
Of course, what do I know?
PS: I am very glad you publish this Substack, Bari. I think yesterday's guest editorial about why the Depp/Heard slagfest verdict is the Big Bad was the very first time I have ever disagreed with anything you've printed.
Was the joke he tweeted misogynistic? It didn't seem that way to me. One of the cruelest consequences of the current age of Cancel is the loss of our sense of humor.
When speaking with my patients I often say “men are idiots” this is not a “joke” but rather an observation jocularly expressed. Zero men have objected, most nod their heads in agreement. Is this sexist? Of course but it has an element of truth.
I logged in specifically to reply to this, as I'm in the field. Agree 1000X. Compassionate and ethical therapy can only be about one thing - helping a client to be their best. Anything outside of that - any ideology (political or otherwise) or guiding principle beyond what is best for the client is incredibly and DEEPLY inappropriate (not to mention quite possibly damaging in the long run).
I'm the first to admit I unsubscribed to the NYT and the Chicago Tribune. The only things I subscribe to are substack authors like you, The Daily Wire and the WSJ. As a former journalism major your analysis of the current state of the media is spot on. Short on trust for sure has transformed national media.
Let's face it. We are a nation of tattle tales. As a child, if I "ratted out" my cousins, my parents would chide me rather than them. "No one likes a tattle tale," my dad would say. I could feel my face turn red and the shame was far worse than the shove my cousin gave me that knocked me to the ground. My father's lesson in ethics sunk in.
The age of the wisecrack is over; it is equated to a minstrel show in the eyes of the young and the woke. Watch an episode of Seinfeld and count how many truly hilarious moments would be viewed as sexist, racist, etc. by today's standards.
Thank you, Bari for starting Common Sense. I don't always like or agree with the essays published but I thank God they are being published.
Even uber liberal, Norman Lear, was smart enough to make Archie's meathead
son-in-law the occasional object of ridicule. After all, that character was living off his wife's family and she was supporting his education. Woke writers today don't have the creativity or intelligence to do that. (Many of Lear's other works were not given the nuanced treatment.)
I’m a big fan of the work you’re doing - as someone who lives in bright red West TX but has written OpEds a few times for legacy publications offering more nuanced takes on the culture here, I get how hard it is to cross the finish line w a piece that doesn’t ideologically reflect the progressive worldview. They want “diverse perspectives” until the perspective is diverse.
Thanks Matthew! Kind of you to say. I feel dumb asking the “how to pitch” question - I’ve looked and looked to no avail though! I have quite a few story ideas that were almost but not quite accepted by some of the legacy outlets. It could be that they just weren’t good enough - I’m new to game and lack experience, so fair enough - but sometimes I feel like it’s bc they are just not conformative enough. Which is scary to me, bc I don’t write from a fringe perspective.
Carrie, isthere a place or a newsletter that you can send out once a month or here on Substack for those of us that want to understand other perspectives?
Bari I’ve been following you since I read your resignation letter from the NY Times. As a British person who follows US politics, culture and civic life quite closely I have found Common Sense, Honestly and TGIF to be absolutely unmissable. Thank you for building this space for real people to have real conversations about real things that matter. Mazeltov!
Yep same here! I had actually never heard of her until her resignation letter made the rounds and shortly thereafter I heard her on Megyn Kelly's podcast mentioning she was starting her own substack newsletter. I went searching for examples of her work and fell in love with her writing. I remember her very first Honestly podcast episode (about Wadi's business boycott) like it was yesterday because it gave me goosebumps. Since then I've recommended several friends who are all now subscribers as well. The clincher though was when I started reading the comment section and found an entire community of smart, humble, critical thinkers that eschewed narratives for facts and debated a wide breadth of topics respectfully and intellectually.
Bari, love what you’re doing here and happy to support it.
Weigel’s mistake was apologizing for his joke. Not his problem that some found it unfunny or even offensive; that’s the nature of humor. Allowing the Progressive Mob to demand consequences for every joke they dislike is precisely how we got to the point where actual, physical violence is now being committed against comedians on stage... with some on the Left even defending it. Stop apologizing; it will never be enough.
If you had told this life-long politically conservative corporate lawyer 10 years ago that he would be thirsty to read Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss for good, honest, thought-provoking writing that is hard to find anywhere else, I would have thought you bonkers. I don't agree with all the folks who are featured here but my gosh it's good to read different perspectives from writers who are intellectually honest.
Don't look now, Bari, but you're running the best newspaper in America!
My thought as well.
The left has let a minority of tyrants shape their culture. Instead of laughing at the PC/Woke nut cases, like good little lemmings they march in mass right off the cliff. We should be laughing at the PC/Woke morons not taking them seriously. I don't understand it. Maybe the left's brains are wired differently than mine.
Speaking of lemmings…about 20-30 or so years ago Alan Arkin wrote a very charming book, The Lemming Condition. Nominally a children’s book, it actually ought to be for children of all ages.
ALL ages.
No rewiring necessary not sure if there are brains (sorry if it’s inappropriate)
You were not inappropriate.
Thank you for that!
Help!! Who or what qualifies as "the left?" Even a punching bag has to hang at a particular, defined place, in "the ring." But "the left?"
The problem is people tend to be more nuanced than that, and the views can change by topic. If you are outraged by the possibility of Roe V Wade being overturned, I would consider you on the left. If you believe in packing the court to get the desired outcome, you are on the left. If you are pro-choice and for vaccine mandates, you are on the left. If you want more government and believe the government can solve problems, you are on the left. If you are for CRT in schools, you are on the left. If you believe someone under 18 can’t be tried as an adult but is responsible enough to make decisions about gender identity and abortion, you are on the left. If you believe that censoring speech you don’t like, you are on the left. If you believe in science, but want to suppress any narrative that doesn’t fit the current agenda, you are on the left. The left use to fight for freedom. Freedom of speech. Freedom from government. Freedom of thought. They have gained power and now fight against what they used to fight for.
Keep in mind there is no generally accepted definition. This is my personal and singular to me definition. The left, in representing the political spectrum is associated in general with equity(rather than equality) and federal control of the major institutions of political and economic life. It generally denegrates Christianity and Israel, though this is not universal to the left. Classical Liberalism usually falls to the Center away from current Left.
I rest my case: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pelosi-backed-candidate-who-attacked-us-as-amerikkka-and-called-to-deconstruct-police-wins-dem-primary/ar-AAYdGJd?ocid=uxbndlbing
You need to say no more!!
I agree! I was first introduced to this publication with What Happened Last Night in Virginia, became intrigued and knew I was going to stay after Why Are We Boosting Kids. I also still often think about The Takeover of America’s Legal System.
Oh and I love the TGIF roundup every week!!
As the late great Howard Cosell would say, Bari (& other contributors) are "telling it like it is." Just gotta keep seeking facts and truth.
Not quite yet. No sports or crossword.
@Bari we need a printable weekly crossword. Tablet has a weekly digest.
If only we hadn’t lost Roger Angell so soon, he’d have fit right in.
Keep on Truckin’ CS.
You sure are!
Yes!
Great post. Bari is a breath of fresh air.
Hey Penny - Welcome back!!! We are so happy to have you back to normal and celebrating your individual voice. Lock step ideology is no way for anyone to live or think.
Be careful, you will be labeled a conservative. God forbid.
The only constructive act that the labeling folks have is calling people a conservative. Alan, please do not steal their thunder. That would be oppressive.
Like it or not, it was a joke. As a male I found it funny. If you didn’t like it, bummer for you. Move along nothing to see here. Absolutely no reason to take it down or apologize.
I came across this parable earlier this morning. It seems appropriate for anyone caught in the Middle School Antics that no none should have to endure. Credit goes to Joseph Bonner.
“A father told his daughter, "Congrats on your graduation. I bought you a car a while back. I want you to have it now."
Before I give it to you, take it to a car dealer in the city and sell it. See how much they offer.”
The girl came back to her father and said: "They offered me $10,000 dollars because it looks very old"
Father said: "Ok, now take it to the pawn shop".
The girl returns to her father and said: "The pawn shop offered $1,000 dollars because it's a very old car and a lot of work done".
The father told her to join a passionate car club with experts and show them the car. The girl drove to the passionate car club. She returned to her father after a few hours and told him, “Some people in the club offered me $100,000 dollars because its a rare car that's in good condition.”
Then the father said, "I wanted to let you know that you are not worth anything if you are not in the right place. If you are not appreciated, do not be angry, that means you are in the wrong place. "Don't stay in a place where no one sees your value ."
Know your worth and know where you are valued.
A diamond doesn't shine on the bottom of a cave.”
Very well said. A corollary is "If you are the smartest person in the room, you're in the wrong room."
Uh huh.
I went to a very tough school a long time ago (post-50th reunion now). And I always get emails from there. Couple years ago I got a Jeff Foxworthyesque one saying that you might have gone there if you know thus and so (there followed a litany of specific places and activities on campus).
I thought this was really too parochial. I wrote back that you probably went there if you’re really pretty smart and you know a whole lot of people who are a good deal smarter than you are.
And none of your friends believe you.
[I got an almost immediate reply asking if they could use that.]
As a young person, I over-valued myself. Having been (figuratively) kicked around a bit, I learned that if I was underappreciated it might be because I was under-performing. That too, was an important lesson to learn.
I wish the younger activist generation would heed those words.
No chance to privilege SBO it’s all about them
The trick, Timothy, is to know if you're in the wrong place. If you don't know the value in yourself to begin with, not confident in yourself, then you can stay in the wrong place your entire life, unappreciated - because you yourself believe in their judgement of you.
Thank You, and especially to M. Kaluhiokalani.
I"m asking, "Who is John Galt."
I am John Galt....You are John Galt...We are all John Galt - sadly most people don't realize it yet but many are waking up.
Hope so. May finish book today.
The left hates Ayn Rand.
That's painting with a wide brush. I'm a liberal, and I like Ayn Rand very much.
Paul Ryan, while Speaker of the House, read it and discussed it. The msm crucified him for that. They didn’t vilify Obama for reading it while he was in the WH.
Just sayin’….
In 2011 the movie Atlas Shrugged was rereleased. The left went nuts. They thought it would destroy the left and the Democrat Party because it promoted rugged individualism. The Democrats could not stand the thought of a person who could stand on her or his two feet without government assistance.
I apologize if I hurt any leftist on this BBS by using the pronouns her and his when you would have preferred them or they.
@jt A great question. Followed by @Kurt Taylor’s great answer.
Yeah, M. Lahm. M. Taylor's answer *was* great!
Thanks for info going to do some research on him
Take a look at Michael Shellenberger's substack - he's a former lefty, sorta former, and is running for Gov of CA against the shill known as Gavin Newsom. He has ideas on how better to deal with CA's epidemic of mentally ill and drug addicted people living on the streets. The enabling and coddling approach is a visible and tragic failure and a hot topic in the coming election. I know the establishment will likely squeeze him out using their unlimited funds and propaganda machine but at least his voice is being heard and people are beginning to pay attention.
San Fransicko by Michael Shellenberger is a good place to start.
Interesting - is that where she got the name or just a fact worth sharing? It's a shame that his model seems to be overwhelmed today. Yes, the people who need help are out in the community but far too few of them are being effectively treated. I am in no way advocating for the old sadistic state mental hospital system of his day but rather saying that what is being done now isn't working. I don't know what the solution is but we can't keep sweeping the problem under rug.
Yep. Ignore the slings and arrows of those who don't believe in you, listen to everyone, accept what seems right and reject the rest, and get on with life.
Wow, thanks for that. Very cool.
got to pass this on
good stuff!
Wow absolutely brilliant thanks for this!! Tim
Nice
I didn't like the joke- all it was missing was a "women love shopping!" reference. That said, who gives a shit? Is there a law that I have to like every joke?
When the mob comes for Felicia Sonmez is she going to be surprized?
That reminds me of what Adrian Bott said: “‘I never thought leopards would eat MY face,’ sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.”
Bless her heart, but she probably will be.
The only way The Mob will come for Felicia Sonmez is if she has a falling out with Taylor Lorenz, who then leads the mob against her. Right now, the two of them RUN the Mob.
That's news to the Genovese family (and lots of people in Brighton Beach.) Trust me, these mean girls don't really know how to MOB.
Yes. When the mob comes for Felicia, she will scream loud and long about being cancelled, as irony is not the strong suit of the hyper-offended.
As a female I found it funny - the woke eats it’s own !
As a female I found it funny because there was a lot of truth in it. Good grief, don't they teach the old childhood rhyme, "sticks and stones," any more?
Whoa...referencing idioms about violence IS violence!
wait a minute - last summer I was lectured that "silence is violence"
Is now everything that someone doesn't approve of violence?
ROFL...hilarious. The childhood rhyme IS violence. You, sir, are part of the problem.
I hope you understand it was sarcasm. :]
Thank you for clarifying. I had entirely missed that.
Surely sarcasm?!!’
Elliot, that was brilliant!!
Silence is violence, speech is violence. So shut up and say something. (Sarcasm font)
oops...I should have read further
yes!!! I find myself thinking the exact thought many times!
As a female, I found it funny! It seems there’s a more eloquent quote about this, but my opinion is if we can’t laugh at ourselves, we are taking ourselves (our sex, our identity, etc.) too seriously!
One obvious characteristic about people who adhere to The Narrative is that they have no sense of humor. Anger and fear are the only two emotions we're allowed -- not laughter, and certainly not if the joke's punchline is directed at a demographic that are considered Marginalized.
The demographic has to be one the aggrieved believes is marginalized
It doesn't matter what the specific demographic thinks
Feliza Sonmez knows full well it was a joke - it's just that journalists nowadays would sell their mothers souls and do ANYTHING to rise to the top of the woke heap. That in itself is comical to watch (except for the poor folks caught in the trap)
She was already suing the paper and now this. Does she actually work?
I made a comment about this very thing. Is there no metric for productivity in that workplace? I remember a place I worked in my youth that had a poster on the wall that read "If you've got time to lean you've got time to clean" accompanying a funny drawing of a slacker leaning against the wall. In today's world he would have a phone in his hand.
My old Chicago newsroom would have eaten her alive for constantly trashing her colleagues, and we would have been none too pretty about it.
You nailed it. It's all about publicity, notoriety, celebrity. Get it any way you can.
She was salivating dreaming of all the "likes" she would get. Even though she knew she was f*&%ing over her friend. It reminds me so much of 1984
It’s only OK to make jokes about men, didn’t you know that?? I lol’d too!
It's a bit like when Trump sarcastically joked to ask the Russians where Hillary's e-mails were. Every New Yorker knew it was a joke because that's New York humor - mocking and sarcastic. They leftist ones only pretended he was serious.
Jonah Goldberg called it “the smoking gun” of Russiagate.
Care to provide a link? I think I've read everything he's written for at least the last 7 years and don't recall anything like that or that implied that. Nor does Google come up with anything.
He said it on a Ricochet podcast several years ago. I couldn’t believe it. But I can’t provide a link—though I did comment that I thought what he said was absurd. So I get it if you want to disagree. Totally fair. Though it’s kind of like his more recently revealed tweet in which he expressed incredulousness that his peers would just believe the Post’s reporting on Hunter Biden’s laptop. Ridicule ensued after the censored stories were later reported to be true.
Doesn't mean Jonah's not a jackass. Even if he didn't say it, he's said a lot of idiotic things. Why he's respected baffles me.
No. The cynical ones used his words against him like D-Day did to Daniel-san in My Cousin Vinny. "I shot the clerk." All in the name of getting elected. Douchebags.
In the immortal words of Foghorn Leghorn, "That's a joke son, don't you get it?" (Yes, I am that old.)
I can hear his voice now! LOL
People who ascribe to what Bari accurately refers to as The Narrative are seeking power to control discourse, destroy the lives & careers of anyone who goes against it, and spread a vindictive mentality that obliterates the veneer of "adult" professionalism that legal adults in journalism (or any vocation, really) were once expected to uphold. Other expectations such as honesty, objectivity, and courage of one's convictions are now also out the door. All that matters now is fealty to The Narrative. Even some of the old guard journalists whom Bari mentioned are still there are joining in on this, either to protect the careers & respect in the industry they spent decades building or, let's face it, they may happen to have the personality type and/or emotional issues (or desire for power over discourse) that The Narrative appeals to and seduces.
Many people are afraid. It's so very difficult to stand up against the mob. Ask some of the front line doctors who tried to warn against lockdowns and vaccine mandates. Some states (California) are going after their licenses. If a doctor has their license revoked they can't work. If a journalist has to leave a publication they can create a Substack, or find another avenue for gainful employment.
There are too many current examples of lives ruined by malicious and vindictive gossip and false accusations. Ask Dr. Sabatini about having had a relationship with a now vindictive woman. Ask Weigel about working alongside one. Refer to the recent Common Sense submission from the wife of Dr. Katz. If this doesn't send a deep chill down anyone's spine to lay low and either remain silent or join the frenzied mob, what does?
To me, Taylor and this Somnez babe are the polar parts of the bi. Stay away, stay very far away.
What I find offensive about Weigel's retweet is that by doing so he re-affirms the concept of "bipolar" as a synonym (edit: I really meant euphemism) for "batshit crazy person"
Some of my best friends are batshit crazy people!
And if the shoe fits!
I am a female and I found it funny (oh,no!)...you could just have easily replaced woman with man in the sentence and I still would have giggled.
I thought it was worth a smile. Just like silly jokes about men, it means no harm and is a play on words. He should never have taken it down or apologized. I do find it ironic that in July of '21 he made fun of those complaining about cancel culture....
Ahhhh the irony.
Well, I'm a woman and I thought it was funny. Very glad to find a sense of humor still exists beyond my family, lol.
I once heard the following joke aimed at men:
What do floor tiles and men have in common? If you lay either of them down correctly the first time, you can walk over them the rest of your life.
Was it sexist against men? Well, yeah, I suppose, but it was all in good fun and I laughed hysterically rather than getting offended and insisting that the person who told it get suspended without pay from their job for a month.
Not a good joke, to be sure, but only a psycho would go after him like that for reTweeting it.
People often cloak psychopathy and narcissism under the guise of seeking justice and equality.
Yep. And, ladder-climbing. She's chasing power on the backs of her colleagues, and I hope their payback is vicious and sweet.
Look at how she's been rewarded. I read two different articles about this today. Her name was featured prominently in each. She was a no one yesterday and today she is a Lefty darling. Gosh, she can now go in and ask for a raise. I would advise her to be sure it's a man she is asking the raise from. If he doesn't give it to her she can Tweet about his anti-feminist attitudes and have her troll followers go after him. That ought to work. She's a feminist heroine now.
Hell of it is, she was rising fast without having to launch witch hunts. At her age, to have been a Beijing correspondent for the New York Times, then come home to be a national political reporter? Journalism careers don't get any better than that.
In the old days her throwing colleagues under the bus would have gotten her blackballed in the industry. Now, it gets her clicks, likes, and fame that will leap her into an editor hood or her own cable TV gig.
Sick, right?
She may have been rising but this jettisoned her to the top of the heap. It has made her radioactive at her employment. This has become an unhappy pattern. The accusers, finger pointers, and slanderers not only get a pass on their malicious destruction but they are rewarded for it. We have seen this again and again in academia, government and business. It's a horrible new trend.
This same trend is also very obvious in Hollywood and the entertainment industry as well. Check out how many celebrities on Twitter are mindlessly woke compared to those who aren't, for instance. It's the same in the publishing industry that produces genre fiction, where I work.
It's been that way for a long time now. Hollywood was first, followed by academia, the MSM and corporations.
She wants not just respect that is earned from her merits as a journalist, but power to destroy those that offend her. The woke mentality encourages people to be hypersensitive and to see "microaggressions" against designated minority groups everywhere they look. That's why they do not have a sense of humor. The Narrative also encompasses the worldview that the civil rights movement essentially just started and that Western culture and institutions are still filled to the brim with racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, etc. I could believe that better if the multiple individuals blatantly demonizing white male cis-heteros on Twitter were the ones being de-platformed and let go from their jobs.
I am not blind to the recent mass shootings by those with white supremacist ideologies, with their fears of "the great replacement theory," but what reports about them usually fail to mention is that there are also recent mass shootings carried out by people of color against random white people (including cops) and even a California incident by a Chinese man against Thaienese people due to the ethnic-based animosity created between them by the Chinese government due to its ongoing issue with the One China policy that Biden is predictably exploiting to create tensions with China (so even more money can be funneled into the war industry, capitalism's bread and butter). Glenn Greenwald did an excellent article on this over on Substack and I likewise did one on Medium. The various governments of the world's ruling classes routinely turn different segments of the working class against each other, and the extremist elements on both the Right and the Left are falling right into their hands. Yes, straight white men do not behave well when given disproportionate power over other demograhics in a class-divided system, but this "woke" nonsense proves an aspect of history that the Far Left doesn't want to hear: people of color, women, and LGBTQ people do not behave any better when the reins of power shift to them. This is how everyone behaves in a ruthlessly competitive system with massive disparities of wealth.
Please don't blame this on "a ruthlessly competitive system with massive disparities in wealth."
I remember reading about carving up the pie on the Left. The pie has not gotten one bit larger so the various groups within it have to vie to make their slice larger. They become more extreme as a result. Eventually they will turn on each other. Shades of Robespierre.
I blame it on the nature of the capitalist system because its laws and expectations are all about high stakes competition, with some having to get less in order for others to get more, disparity of wealth and power being a fact of life, the most ruthless tending to rise to the top, and scapegoating various groups to deflect scorn and scrutiny from the system itself being a common facet of a corporate owned media. Such a system is going to have a profound effect on how we live our lives and our behavior towards each other. And blaming each other instead of the system is exactly what the 1% wants, which is exactly why we see the corporate elites in Hollywood, big tech, and the military & intelligence agencies lining up to promote the "woke" agenda. We need to root out the main cause rather than presuming this happens in a vacuum. Capitalism does not work for the vast majority of us, and we of the 99% need to disabuse ourselves of that notion lest we continue smothering in an endless cycle of war, poverty, and divisive identity politics.
Improving their financial lot and opportunities, and the power to destroy anyone who opposes them, in this ruthlessly competitive, dog-eat-dog capitalist system is what the woke in positions of power are hoping to achieve. Those who are not in positions of power are hoping to get there by promoting The Narrative as loudly as possible, even though they are well aware it can come to bite any of them in the ass if they aren't careful enough with what they say, or if a tweet they made 5 years ago saying something it was considered ok to say back then is suddenly unearthed. It has nothing to do with improving the condition of any particular group. They have elevated victimhood from something very unfortunate into something that everyone wants to be.
It's disingenuous to blame it on capitalism. Try again.
It’s amusing to see leftists repeatedly blame capitalism for innate human behaviors.
The psychological basis of cancel mobbing is the evolved human trait of coalition building. Designating certain behaviors as morally repugnant recruits strong emotion-level group cohesion. And when everyone in the group is morally offended, a clear sign of commitment to the group is to be more outraged than most. And then any voice of moderation becomes a signal of disloyalty to the group. Then the mandatory shared moral indignation becomes more important than the substance of the offense.
So this familiar dynamic occurs repeatedly throughout history--- whether the offense is being a witch, a heretic, a conspirator, a cultural appropriator, a micro-aggressor, etc. Capitalism didn’t cause the Salem witch trials
You are so right. Thank you for contributing to this thread.
It's been a long time since I read Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer."
I've been reading Gad Saad's book, "The Parasitic Mind."
I've ordered Mattias Desmet's new book, "The Psychology of Totalitarianism."
It's essential to know the enemy.
I disagree, Naomi. Capitalism is all about competition, since there is a price tag on everything and every item or service is dispensed on the basis of individual ability to pay for it, not need, with an increasing number of jobs paying us too little to afford even our most basic necessities despite our numerous hours of hard work per week. Hence, it's essential for the capitalist class to pit segments of the working class against each other to deter class unity that will demand the full fruit of our labor for everyone. That results in ideologies such as white supremacy on one extreme and hatred against white people on the other end and every other variation of both (e.g., misogyny and misandry), everyone fighting for this or that demographic within the 99% gaining nominal privileges over the biggest share of crumbs while the 1% truly live in opulent luxury as we're too busy fighting each other and blaming each other to fight and blame them. And we do this at a time when technological advances enable us to provide an abundance for all. People do not behave in such a way "just because." We behave as our environmental circumstances compel us to behave. Class divisions are no longer necessary due to the advances in technology we enjoy today, which is why we need to get over our stubborn loyalty to a system that has outived its historic usefulness and only works for a mere 1% of the global population.
For sure.
As a female, I found it funny. If we can no longer tell jokes, what kind of world are we living in?
When times are tough we need humor more than ever. It softens the blow if you can joke about it.
My philosophy is that you can either laugh or cry, and I'd rather laugh.
We'd be living in a cynical world where a small but vocal group of people controlled all the discourse and punished us for going against their imposed rules.
Well that sounds like a synopsis of today, doesn't it?
Bill, you find a sexist joke funny, and an anti-Semitic find this joke funny: the Jews make a special dough for Passover; the rest of the year, they're making dough to rule the world. Do the same rules apply?
Yes. I suggest you read up on Don Rickles. Made lots of money by making people laugh at absurd caricatures of human nature. Gilbert Gottfried, too. Even Jackie the Joke Man.
Jolly good show, we can make jokes about molesting little girls and boys; I mean, civility is highly overrated.
Yep, that too. George Carlin has a great bit about Daffy Duck (edit: it's actually Elmer Fudd, sorry for the misquote George-RIP) being raped by Porky Pig. Jonathan Swift went one better than molestation. He wanted to eat little boys and girls.
Absolutely! I’m sure you say something different if the joke was about men.
Well it’s no laughing matter but you might as well laugh. Then forget about it instead of letting it fester and grow and metastasize.
Fear not, it festers not!
I dont agree with everything you say, I am a middle of the road conservative without a party. I gladly pay for this subscription along with Matt Taibbi anda couple other liberal writers because I know when you & Matt write something its factual and unbiased. THANK YOU BARI FOR ALWAYS PROVIDING AWESOME ESSAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Who wants to read someone you agree with 100% lockstep? Bari is so refreshing.
Which is why I also read CNN and Washington Post so I understand what MSM is trying to brainwash its audience with......
I gave up on CNN long ago. It once was a very good news site but those days are decades in the past. It seemed to me their blatant bias came to the fore when Bill Clinton became president.
I dont believe much of anything that CNN, Fox, NYT and Washington Post say but its good to understand the BS that they are feeding their audiences.
When you include Fox you must leave Tucker Carlson out of that. He doesn't BS.
There's a reason folks called it the "Clinton News Network", fairly biased even back then.
The writers up here have plenty of biases. Thing is, they are open about them. They tell you what they see/believe/observe.
What Bari's substack hasn't done, at least to date, is damage someone for writing what they believe. It seems to me, they require the author's to make an objective case -- for or against -- whatever it is they are arguing. And let people decide for themselves.
I’m a Ron Paul libertarian, and I happily pay for Matt and Bari as well. Good journalism has no party or ideology.
When I first heard about you was over the Tom Cotton debacle at the NYT. You were not afraid to tell the truth. That is all I ask for in any journalist, film critic, artist, comedian, scientist. To not be so afraid of telling the truth that you go along with groupthink/hysteria. When we talk about the "fourth turning" - Neil Howe and William Strauss' generational theory, there are "alpha voices" that begin to lead once we live through the worst of it (we're in the thick of it now). You are absolutely one of those. You are an alpha voice, a natural leader - fearless, inquisitive, humble, honest. Thank you.
By the Tom Cotton standard, a huge chunk of NYT employees should have been fired. For cause.
Sen. Cotton's op-ed was bad, but publishing it was the right call. The words of a US Senator with little editing is completely appropriate to publish. We want to know what our political leaders are actually thinking, and not some varnished version of it. Cotton did that. And an NYT employee lost his job over it. That was the travesty.
By “bad” you mean you disagree with it? Or you thought it was poorly written or reasoned?
By “bad” you mean you didn’t agree with it?
I am related by marriage to a Turkish journalist who retweeted something at the start of covid that was mildly critical of Erdogan. He was arrested, spent a month in prison, then released.
Have we become that different from an authoritarian dictator state?
Nope. Pete Navarro learned that the hard way. Merrick Garland is nothing but a snotty, nerdly little Beria impersonator. He is quickly earning the same fate.
Fair point, I concede. We truly are in a "show me the man, I'll show the the crime" era.
Breaks my heart to see the weaponization of DOJ/FBI.
No. No we are not.
That's sad to hear. We are not quite there yet, ours is more like "you get fired and can't get another job and be in respectable company." But I am sure some Americans would like us to be there.
Bari, from one of your subscribers that virtually never comments but reads everything you write, all I can say is AMEN!
This is me! I read it all but usually don't bother to take time to comment.
This essay is right up there with your resignation letter, which turned me on to you in the first place. You just nailed it. Thank you for what you are doing. Please keep it up. You are making a difference.
When I taught in the English department at a university I had a cartoon on my bulletin board of two women in a bookstore, one behind a desk explaining: "This is a feminist bookstore. There is no humor section." Guess good thing I had tenure.
I, too, found the joke amusing.
Sure, it’s misogynistic, and misogyny, boys and girls, is bad! I wholeheartedly agree! But humor exists as a safety valve or maybe the better metaphor is a meat grinder. You pass those violent, sexist, unacceptable thoughts through the grinder, and they come out as something shredded and harmless.
Or, at least, that’s how it seems to me.
Of course, what do I know?
PS: I am very glad you publish this Substack, Bari. I think yesterday's guest editorial about why the Depp/Heard slagfest verdict is the Big Bad was the very first time I have ever disagreed with anything you've printed.
Was the joke he tweeted misogynistic? It didn't seem that way to me. One of the cruelest consequences of the current age of Cancel is the loss of our sense of humor.
When speaking with my patients I often say “men are idiots” this is not a “joke” but rather an observation jocularly expressed. Zero men have objected, most nod their heads in agreement. Is this sexist? Of course but it has an element of truth.
Excuse me, the proper term is mistersogynist.
FW = firmware. I live on the bare-metal bleeding-edge. Although I did my time in Fortran and really like R when I need to do stats.
Yeah, me too. The writing was good but its content was not. Then I read something else by the same author on UnHerd that was good. Shrug’s
I don’t know why every profession needs to be conflated with activism now. Journalism, acting, diaper making.
I work with psychotherapists and I can definitely see this trend even there. A profession that needs to extend help to anyone and yet…
Activism has no room for sense of humor it seems.
I logged in specifically to reply to this, as I'm in the field. Agree 1000X. Compassionate and ethical therapy can only be about one thing - helping a client to be their best. Anything outside of that - any ideology (political or otherwise) or guiding principle beyond what is best for the client is incredibly and DEEPLY inappropriate (not to mention quite possibly damaging in the long run).
Are the diaper making activists working for Taylor Lorenz?
I'm the first to admit I unsubscribed to the NYT and the Chicago Tribune. The only things I subscribe to are substack authors like you, The Daily Wire and the WSJ. As a former journalism major your analysis of the current state of the media is spot on. Short on trust for sure has transformed national media.
Let's face it. We are a nation of tattle tales. As a child, if I "ratted out" my cousins, my parents would chide me rather than them. "No one likes a tattle tale," my dad would say. I could feel my face turn red and the shame was far worse than the shove my cousin gave me that knocked me to the ground. My father's lesson in ethics sunk in.
The age of the wisecrack is over; it is equated to a minstrel show in the eyes of the young and the woke. Watch an episode of Seinfeld and count how many truly hilarious moments would be viewed as sexist, racist, etc. by today's standards.
Thank you, Bari for starting Common Sense. I don't always like or agree with the essays published but I thank God they are being published.
Can you imagine the snowflakes’ reaction to an episode of The Little Rascals or The Three Stooges? Imagine their freak out over All in the Family.
Bunch of weak patsies IMO.
Stymie and Buckwheat? OMG. I'd pay to see that. Farina, too.
I would add Amos & Andy to the list.
Read the “sellout” by Paul Beatty. Amazing racial satire. First American to win the Booker prize.
Thanks for that. I’ll check it out
SNL with Richard prior, and Eddie Murphy?
Even uber liberal, Norman Lear, was smart enough to make Archie's meathead
son-in-law the occasional object of ridicule. After all, that character was living off his wife's family and she was supporting his education. Woke writers today don't have the creativity or intelligence to do that. (Many of Lear's other works were not given the nuanced treatment.)
True comedy pokes fun in ALL directions
Snitches get stitches....except now they get "likes" from the other Blue Checks
It's considered a career path. Making yourself appear better by destroying a target.
boy howdy, too bad I have to work for a living instead of looking for malfeasance on Twitter
How do writers pitch you/your team?
I’m a big fan of the work you’re doing - as someone who lives in bright red West TX but has written OpEds a few times for legacy publications offering more nuanced takes on the culture here, I get how hard it is to cross the finish line w a piece that doesn’t ideologically reflect the progressive worldview. They want “diverse perspectives” until the perspective is diverse.
Progressives say “diversity” but practice “divisionry”. BTW, I just coined that non-word. 😬
Love it!
Nice!
Bari - common sense would benefit from Carrie’s perspective.
Thanks Matthew! Kind of you to say. I feel dumb asking the “how to pitch” question - I’ve looked and looked to no avail though! I have quite a few story ideas that were almost but not quite accepted by some of the legacy outlets. It could be that they just weren’t good enough - I’m new to game and lack experience, so fair enough - but sometimes I feel like it’s bc they are just not conformative enough. Which is scary to me, bc I don’t write from a fringe perspective.
Carrie, isthere a place or a newsletter that you can send out once a month or here on Substack for those of us that want to understand other perspectives?
Bari I’ve been following you since I read your resignation letter from the NY Times. As a British person who follows US politics, culture and civic life quite closely I have found Common Sense, Honestly and TGIF to be absolutely unmissable. Thank you for building this space for real people to have real conversations about real things that matter. Mazeltov!
Yep same here! I had actually never heard of her until her resignation letter made the rounds and shortly thereafter I heard her on Megyn Kelly's podcast mentioning she was starting her own substack newsletter. I went searching for examples of her work and fell in love with her writing. I remember her very first Honestly podcast episode (about Wadi's business boycott) like it was yesterday because it gave me goosebumps. Since then I've recommended several friends who are all now subscribers as well. The clincher though was when I started reading the comment section and found an entire community of smart, humble, critical thinkers that eschewed narratives for facts and debated a wide breadth of topics respectfully and intellectually.
Bari, love what you’re doing here and happy to support it.
Weigel’s mistake was apologizing for his joke. Not his problem that some found it unfunny or even offensive; that’s the nature of humor. Allowing the Progressive Mob to demand consequences for every joke they dislike is precisely how we got to the point where actual, physical violence is now being committed against comedians on stage... with some on the Left even defending it. Stop apologizing; it will never be enough.
Exactly!!! The only reply to the screeching and wails of these demented harpies is "Eff Off."
Never back down. It only emboldens their lunacy.
🎯
If you had told this life-long politically conservative corporate lawyer 10 years ago that he would be thirsty to read Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss for good, honest, thought-provoking writing that is hard to find anywhere else, I would have thought you bonkers. I don't agree with all the folks who are featured here but my gosh it's good to read different perspectives from writers who are intellectually honest.
I have the same sentiments as a Rush listener from 1990 till his last broadcast.
My how life surprises me.
I miss Rush terribly and I agree with you! (I had listened to him since around 1990, too).