# New York Times hires unapologetic racist writer **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 4, 2018, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086 "2018-08-04T10:58:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/1 "2018-08-04T10:58:23Z")
Excellent column by Andrew Sullivan. [When Racism Is Fit To Print](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/sarah-jeong-new-york-times-anti-white-racism.html) > [@Andrew Sullivan](#): > > Is the newest member of the New York Times editorial board, Sarah Jeong, a racist? > > From one perspective — that commonly held by people outside the confines of the political left — she obviously is. A series of tweets from 2013 to 2015 reveal a vicious hatred of an entire group of people based only on their skin color. If that sounds harsh, let’s review a few, shall we? “White men are bullshit,” is one. A succinct vent, at least. But notice she’s not in any way attacking specific white men for some particular failing, just all white men for, well, existing. > > …. > > A little more disturbing is what you might call “eliminationist” rhetoric — language that wishes an entire race could be wiped off the face of the earth: “#cancelwhitepeople.” Or: “White people have stopped breeding. you’ll all go extinct soon. that was my plan all along.” One simple rule I have about describing groups of human beings is that I try not to use a term that equates them with animals. Jeong apparently has no problem doing so. Speaking of animals, here’s another gem: “Dumbass fucking white people marking up the internet with their opinions like dogs pissing on fire hydrants. > > …. > > But the alternative view — that of today’s political left — is that Jeong definitionally cannot be racist, because she’s both a woman and a racial minority. Racism against whites, in this neo-Marxist view, just “isn’t a thing” — just as misandry literally cannot exist at all. And this is because, in this paradigm, racism has nothing to do with a person’s willingness to pre-judge people by the color of their skin, or to make broad, ugly generalizations about whole groups of people, based on hoary stereotypes. Rather, racism is entirely institutional and systemic, a function of power, and therefore it can only be expressed by the powerful — i.e., primarily white, straight men. For a nonwhite female, like Sarah Jeong, it is simply impossible. This is absolutely appalling. If a white person wrote identical tweets but replaced “white” with any other racial group like #cancelblackpeople, they would not be able to get a job at a major respected publication. They’d be relegated to fringe hate groups like Stormfront. Apparently bigotry is okay these days, as long as it’s directed against white people. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/2 "2018-08-04T11:11:36Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Excellent column by Andrew Sullivan. [When Racism Is Fit To Print](http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/08/sarah-jeong-new-york-times-anti-white-racism.html) > > This is absolutely appalling. If a white person wrote identical tweets but replaced “white” with any other racial group like #cancelblackpeople, they would not be able to get a job at a major respected publication. They’d be relegated to fringe hate groups like Stormfront. Apparently bigotry is okay these days, as long as it’s directed against white people. …fuck that bullshit. Sarah Jeong is fucking fantastic. She’s a fucking legend. Ignore the bullshit from Sullivan. From the Verge: > **[Editor’s note: newsrooms must stand up to targeted campaigns of harassment](https://www.theverge.com/2018/8/2/17644878/the-verge-new-york-times-sarah-jeong)** > > Online trolls and harassers want us, the Times, and other newsrooms to waste their time by debating their malicious agenda. > [@](#): > > You can read Sarah’s own statement about her tweets here. But as the editors of The Verge, we want to be clear: this abusive backlash is dishonest and outrageous. The trolls engaged in this campaign are using the same tactics that exploded during Gamergate, and they have been employed in recent years by even broader audiences amid a rise in hostility toward journalists. From cries about “ethics in journalism” to “fake news,” journalists have been increasingly targeted by people acting in bad faith who do not care about the work they do, the challenges they face, or the actual context of their statements. > > … > > Until she begins at the Times, Sarah is still one of us — a senior writer at The Verge. During her time working with us, she has produced remarkable journalism, including difficult reporting on victims of harassment and abuse. We are incredibly proud of Sarah’s work for The Verge, and we consider ourselves lucky to have gotten to know her as an excellent colleague, a formidable thinker, and a fine human being. > > We have no doubt Sarah will continue to contribute thoughtful and rigorous reporting and analysis at the Times. She is an essential voice on technology and the internet, and we will all benefit from her continued work. Sarah has done some of the best reporting I’ve seen in the last five years. The New York Times is lucky to have her. Fuck off with this bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/3 "2018-08-04T11:30:46Z")
I am not familiar with her work but I would need to read some of her own statements in context before I could form an opinion. Of course, I haven’t read the Times regularly in thirty years, so my opinion of who they hire is irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/4 "2018-08-04T11:57:13Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > Sarah has done some of the best reporting I’ve seen in the last five years. The New York Times is lucky to have her. Fuck off with this bullshit. If an otherwise excellent journalist posted White Supremacist tweets, he’d be fired that very same day, regardless of the merits of his other work. I don’t see why we should have a different standard just because the hatred is directed against Whites. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/5 "2018-08-04T11:58:22Z")
And she’s a misandrist. ---
**Author:** ![Banquet\_Bear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banquet_bear/32/373_2.png) [@Banquet\_Bear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banquet_Bear)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/6 "2018-08-04T12:11:00Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > If an otherwise excellent journalist posted White Supremacist tweets, he’d be fired that very same day, regardless of the merits of his other work. I don’t see why we should have a different standard just because the hatred is directed against Whites. …she didn’t post white supremacist tweets. You are being played. ---
**Author:** ![wintertime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c68b51/32.png) [@wintertime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wintertime)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/7 "2018-08-04T12:50:49Z")
Context matters. You can say something racist without being a racist. A parody of someone else’s views, sarcasm and hyperbole are possible explanations; she might also have simply analyzed racist word bubbles, and they are now used in isolation to paint a perverted picture of the truth. Of course, she might have also meant it. I need to take a closer look but I will not condemn someone because someone else is making claims. We have enough of that already. More than enough. I’d say the same if this was about a journalist accused of being a white supremacist. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/8 "2018-08-04T12:59:44Z")
I suspect that this is a ploy by conservatards to discredit the NY Times and perhaps to justify their own very real racism. Typical conservatard victimhood. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/9 "2018-08-04T13:01:09Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > … > > This is absolutely appalling. If a white person wrote identical tweets but replaced “white” with any other racial group like #cancelblackpeople, they would not be able to get a job at a major respected publication. They’d be relegated to fringe hate groups like Stormfront. Apparently bigotry is okay these days, as long as it’s directed against white people. Do you have any of her writing that isn’t one sentence snips? It’s early, and if I’m to be properly outraged I need context. I’m ready to be outraged, just point me in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/10 "2018-08-04T13:04:17Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > If an otherwise excellent journalist posted White Supremacist tweets, he’d be fired that very same day, regardless of the merits of his other work. I don’t see why we should have a different standard just because the hatred is directed against Whites. Sarah Jeong’s tweets were not racist nor is she the mirror equivalent of a white supremacist. Andrew Sullivan is lying to you and you’re buying his bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/11 "2018-08-04T13:16:01Z")
> [@Banquet\_Bear](#): > > …she didn’t post white supremacist tweets. You are being played. Some people enjoy being played, and they enjoy being outraged as well. Sullivan is trolling, and he knows that the MAGAbots are going to go after the New York Times and the rest of the media. The right wing is increasingly brazen in its attacks on the free press, and right wing “journalists” are turning against their left wing colleagues in the media because they believe that they won’t eventually suffer the consequences. What they’re too stupid to understand is that authoritarianism doesn’t necessarily have an ideology. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/12 "2018-08-04T13:40:47Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > I suspect… Try reading some of her tweets. Top of the Google search is [NYT’s Sarah Jeong Also Sent Anti-Cop, Anti-Men Tweets | The Daily Caller](http://dailycaller.com/2018/08/03/nyt-sarah-jeong-cop-men-tweets/) which has some nasty utterances. For instance > [@](#): > > “anyways my point is we should kill all men…” and > [@](#): > > “…‘kill all bad men’ still kills all instances of men” ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/13 "2018-08-04T13:53:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Sarah Jeong’s tweets were not racist For those of us not familiar with her work, can you explain why these comments don’t constitute racism? Because honestly it looks fucking damming to me. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/14 "2018-08-04T13:58:45Z")
> [@asahi](#): > > Some people enjoy being played, and they enjoy being outraged as well. > > Sullivan is trolling, and he knows that the MAGAbots are going to go after the New York Times and the rest of the media. The right wing is increasingly brazen in its attacks on the free press, and right wing “journalists” are turning against their left wing colleagues in the media because they believe that they won’t eventually suffer the consequences. What they’re too stupid to understand is that authoritarianism doesn’t necessarily have an ideology. Yes, it is trolling. So don’t take the bait. They are counting on the predictable reactions, exactly as trolled. Racism is racism, sexism is sexism, it is not a condition limited to white men. She either said these things or she didn’t, and if she did say them they have to be in a context where this is clearly not her belief. Otherwise hold her to the same standard as anyone else making racist and/or sexist statements. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/15 "2018-08-04T14:01:45Z")
From this OP, I assumed you were some right wing party liner. But you don’t seem to be. So why the fuck would you take this article from a known conservative darling at face value? I’m not saying you have to take it as false, but you should at least go check and see the counterarguments. All I just did was type her name into Google, and the [top result](https://www.vox.com/2018/8/3/17644704/sarah-jeong-new-york-times-tweets-backlash-racism) is someone explaining the actual issue. This was an alt-right attack piece. She was sarcastically responding back to others. Maybe you disagree. But your OP clearly indicates you are completely unaware of the actual topic. You just read this one guy’s piece, and fell for outrage trolling. Remember, the right accuses us of the things that they actually do. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/16 "2018-08-04T14:02:22Z")
After like two minutes of looking into this, it’s perfectly clear to me that she was throwing back racist insults that those who started throwing racist insults at her. That is a very different context than what has been implied so far, that she just kicks back at the end of a long day and writes shit about white genocide. However - I’m not sure that this context totally exonerates her. We all say things in anger, but I just can’t imagine myself being baited into responding with racist insults. But that could be a product of me being a white dude. If a Kluxer corners a black person and starts yelling at them, calling them the n-word and whatnot, is it unreasonable for the black person to respond with racist insults as well? That’s a complex question. But it’s clear that once again, a shit ton of Russian trolls are pushing this story. Literally. Just look at the twitter feeds and they are chockablock with new accounts with MAGA names and “walkaway836637” and so on. There’s clearly a lot of people being suckered by Putin here, even with the legitimate question underlying the controversy. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/17 "2018-08-04T14:02:38Z")
Well, the single sentences and the recently added sentence fragments I’m seeing here are starting to add up! ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/18 "2018-08-04T14:21:33Z")
Never having heard of Jeong, I just read a [Vox article](http://vox.com/2018/8/3/17644704/sarah-jeong-new-york-times-tweets-backlash-racism) aimed at debunking the idea that she’s a bigot who shouldn’t be working at the Times. Amid much handwaving and sidetracks into other incidents, it boils down to: 1. This is a campaign engineered by the Alt Right. 2. “Jeong’s tweets were, at best, mean to some white people, and were written in a context reasonably understood to be a sarcastic response to people who were perpetually harassing her on the basis of her gender and race.”, i.e. They Did It Too. 3. We may all have “ill-advised detritus” floating around the Internet, so nobody cast the first stone. Nothing to see here, move along. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/19 "2018-08-04T14:22:02Z")
> [@Sarah Jeong](#): > > While it was intended as satire, I deeply regret that I mimicked the language of my harassers. These comments were not aimed at a general audience, because general audiences do not engage in harassment campaigns. I can understand how hurtful these posts are out of context, and would not do it again. I can accept that. It illustrates why trolls should be ignored, criticized as trolls, but not engaged. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/20 "2018-08-04T14:24:33Z")
Oh, [here’s a good one](https://twitter.com/awprokop/status/1025484876278112261): Back in 2014, Sullivan was still defending his role in having made the case for blacks having lower IQ than whites. Responding to criticism, he defended himself by saying he believed “\*anything \*can be examined and debated,” so “I responded to the race and IQ controversy exactly as I would any other: put it all on the table and let the facts and arguments take us where they may.” Sarah Jeong tweeted back\*: > [@](#): > > G O T T A \*\* H E A R \*\* B O T H \*\* S i d e s > > -Andrew Sullivan Then: > [@](#): > > Are white people genetically predisposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins Then: > [@](#): > > let’s hear both sides Then in the piece cited in the OP, Sullivan says: > [@](#): > > Or you could describe an entire race as subhuman: “Are white people genetically disposed to burn faster in the sun, thus logically being only fit to live underground like groveling goblins.” He’s accusing Jeong of racism on _the basis of her parody of his race/IQ defense._ 1. An absolutely \*\*impressive \*\*self-own by Sully; and 2. it calls into question whether he’s bothered to check the context of any of the _other_ tweets he cites, to see if anything equally absolving is going on in context. \*Actually, there’s double spacing between the words in this tweet, but of course vBulletin dispensed with the extra spaces when I tried to include them. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086.md?page=2)