I first heard about this fiasco a few days ago on my favorite Substack podcast, The Fifth Column. The Times—the ‘paper of record’—has disappointed me greatly over the past few years, their biased coverage, especially around race, becoming, for me, finally too much to bear. Whether it was support for the ‘mostly nonviolent’ 2020 riots, or the dishonest coverage of the Central Park Karen situation, or the lying about young black men beating up Asian citizens (I saw this with my own eyes; I lived in Manhattan from 2019-2021), or the non-coverage of the black Wisconsin man who rammed his car through a parade killing a little boy, creating a hero myth about George Floyd, or the constant barrage of far-left woke OpEds, it was just too damn much to swallow. No serious person could fully respect the times. Not after 2020. At least not around certain hot-button issues. But. This may be a positive sign of things to come. Perhaps The Woke Wave is at last cresting. A few days ago the organization GLAAD—an LGBTQ advocacy group—published an open letter alongside many NYT employees criticizing the Times’ reporting of trans issues. Here’s a tidbit from The Hill:
Well stated. One of my political heroes is Teddy Roosevelt. He was in the arena and did good things and made some errors. "In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing." Journalism is all about being in the arena. I share with many people the observation that after the first WTC Bombing ONLY THREE news sources were in the arena and reported the day-to-day trial of the blind sheik. The NYT, NPR and CSM. All of the rest were MIA and in my eyes dross. ALL OF THE REST had made up their minds and were no longer reachable. This is CRITICAL b/c the lionshare of the rest of us are listening to nonsense and not challenging what they believe. The value of these sources (interestingly the TARGET of lots of NONSENSE) is they reported the important issues of the day. I will take that any day and consider most anything else more like a FB Newsfeed, a Twitter rant, etal.
Completely agree with you, Michael. I'm a gay native New Yorker. I am beyond frustrated with what is being done in my name. To begin with, homosexuality is the opposite of gender dysphoria; rather, it's gender euphoria. The main reason I've started my Substack is to address Wokeism and unravel the fictions that caused it. However, this battle needs to be fought by the transsexual community, or the original T in LGBT, mainly the new FTMs, who for the most part didn't exist before the turn of the century, when critical theory unleashed this rubbish gender-fender-bender nonsense on America, in particular. Now the French find themselves battling "le wokisme"; considering that critical theory comes from French postmodernism, the chickens have come home to roost.
Former porn star Buck Angel is the FTM playing Joan of Arc on behalf of biology and fact. Follow him on Twitter, if you don't already.
I've also designed a "New Woke Times: The Only Views That Are Fit to Print" tee shirt that I'll start selling soon. Made me chuckle. I've been needling the paper for years about this. Before 2020, only 1/4 of my comments complaining about their coverage and pointing out the general BS of Wokeism were approved; now it's 3/4. They are getting better, but they're still far from where they should be with objective journalism, and balance in the Opinion columns, which has way too much influence over the news than they had sitting in the back pages when it was just a print version.
Charles Blow & company have to go. Totally off the wall.
Thank you SO much for your kind, thoughtful comment. I just subscribed to your stack. Looks like we have a lot in common, my friend. Yes, I have several close gay buddies and they all to a tee are frustrated with the younger generations’ handling of the T in LGBTQ. For sure it’s a meaty, nuanced, complex issue. I think the problem most of us have is that the younger radicals seem to want to restrict free speech and to denigrate anyone who expresses a dissenting view. Sadly the major institutions are largely afraid to challenge this. But it does seem to be shifting lately. This response by the Times is a good sign. The kids need to read Animal Farm. The ‘oppressed’ become the next ‘oppressors.’ Ah, the cold irony of being human!
Thanks for subscribing. I subscribed to yours after our first interaction on Writer Office Hours. Your writing is exactly how you describe it: sincere and American. Perfectly American, from the perspective of my style sheet: crisp, precise, concise, strong. I'm an Ameropean, had British English teachers until I was 16, so my style tends to be more impressionistic, stretching the limits of correct usage. I'm also an Indophile, heavily influenced by more ornate writers like Salman Rushdie.
I wrote a piece last week about the origins of Wokeism, pinned on my page. It might explain why academic institutions are struggling to put this insane genie back in the bottle: from academia it comes; to academia it should return.
Yes, it's getting somewhat better, and we know that movements like these never last, but Elon Musk was correct when he called it "the woke mind virus." It's like a cancer going into remission and then coming back worse than ever. Also, people hate to be wrong, and supporters of Wokeism have been spectacularly wrong — the cognitive dissonance is going to take a long time to wash out. The implementation of DEI, as well as the attempts to get CRT and "gender grooming" programs into curriculums around the country, means it's far more pernicious than people think. They also don't seem to be aware of the extent of it.
Well stated. One of my political heroes is Teddy Roosevelt. He was in the arena and did good things and made some errors. "In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing." Journalism is all about being in the arena. I share with many people the observation that after the first WTC Bombing ONLY THREE news sources were in the arena and reported the day-to-day trial of the blind sheik. The NYT, NPR and CSM. All of the rest were MIA and in my eyes dross. ALL OF THE REST had made up their minds and were no longer reachable. This is CRITICAL b/c the lionshare of the rest of us are listening to nonsense and not challenging what they believe. The value of these sources (interestingly the TARGET of lots of NONSENSE) is they reported the important issues of the day. I will take that any day and consider most anything else more like a FB Newsfeed, a Twitter rant, etal.
Interesting you mention T. Roosevelt. I’m 60% through an FDR biography. Fascinating. The modernization of America.
We are currently reading Eleanor in my bookclub. Which FDR bio? I enjoyed Doris Kearns Goodwin years ago
‘FDR’ by Jean Edward Smith. It’s excellent.
Here is a great post about trans athletes.
https://taibbicensoredme.substack.com/p/non-binary-individuals-save-girls
There may be hope they'll finally start reporting with journalistic integrity. Thank you for subscribing to me. I'm delighted to connect with you!
Agree. And ditto! 🙏
Completely agree with you, Michael. I'm a gay native New Yorker. I am beyond frustrated with what is being done in my name. To begin with, homosexuality is the opposite of gender dysphoria; rather, it's gender euphoria. The main reason I've started my Substack is to address Wokeism and unravel the fictions that caused it. However, this battle needs to be fought by the transsexual community, or the original T in LGBT, mainly the new FTMs, who for the most part didn't exist before the turn of the century, when critical theory unleashed this rubbish gender-fender-bender nonsense on America, in particular. Now the French find themselves battling "le wokisme"; considering that critical theory comes from French postmodernism, the chickens have come home to roost.
Former porn star Buck Angel is the FTM playing Joan of Arc on behalf of biology and fact. Follow him on Twitter, if you don't already.
I've also designed a "New Woke Times: The Only Views That Are Fit to Print" tee shirt that I'll start selling soon. Made me chuckle. I've been needling the paper for years about this. Before 2020, only 1/4 of my comments complaining about their coverage and pointing out the general BS of Wokeism were approved; now it's 3/4. They are getting better, but they're still far from where they should be with objective journalism, and balance in the Opinion columns, which has way too much influence over the news than they had sitting in the back pages when it was just a print version.
Charles Blow & company have to go. Totally off the wall.
Keep up the good fight!
Thank you SO much for your kind, thoughtful comment. I just subscribed to your stack. Looks like we have a lot in common, my friend. Yes, I have several close gay buddies and they all to a tee are frustrated with the younger generations’ handling of the T in LGBTQ. For sure it’s a meaty, nuanced, complex issue. I think the problem most of us have is that the younger radicals seem to want to restrict free speech and to denigrate anyone who expresses a dissenting view. Sadly the major institutions are largely afraid to challenge this. But it does seem to be shifting lately. This response by the Times is a good sign. The kids need to read Animal Farm. The ‘oppressed’ become the next ‘oppressors.’ Ah, the cold irony of being human!
Thanks for reading brotha!
Michael
Thanks for subscribing. I subscribed to yours after our first interaction on Writer Office Hours. Your writing is exactly how you describe it: sincere and American. Perfectly American, from the perspective of my style sheet: crisp, precise, concise, strong. I'm an Ameropean, had British English teachers until I was 16, so my style tends to be more impressionistic, stretching the limits of correct usage. I'm also an Indophile, heavily influenced by more ornate writers like Salman Rushdie.
I wrote a piece last week about the origins of Wokeism, pinned on my page. It might explain why academic institutions are struggling to put this insane genie back in the bottle: from academia it comes; to academia it should return.
Yes, it's getting somewhat better, and we know that movements like these never last, but Elon Musk was correct when he called it "the woke mind virus." It's like a cancer going into remission and then coming back worse than ever. Also, people hate to be wrong, and supporters of Wokeism have been spectacularly wrong — the cognitive dissonance is going to take a long time to wash out. The implementation of DEI, as well as the attempts to get CRT and "gender grooming" programs into curriculums around the country, means it's far more pernicious than people think. They also don't seem to be aware of the extent of it.
Exactly. And wow: That is one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received. Thank you 🙏