# 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:** 27
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/521 "2018-08-11T12:12:58Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > As I said in the other thread, I think a lot of progressives don’t understand the realities of the numbers game when it comes to politics and demographics. They imagine that the current status quo involves white men being the mirror image, politically, of black women. But in fact, if white men gave only 3% of their votes to Obama in 2012, as black women did to Romney, and you kept all other groups the same, Romney would have won the election in a blowout bigger than Reagan’s 49-state wipeout of Mondale in ‘84, and nearly as big as LBJ’s win over Goldwater in ‘64. > > So Democrats still have a lot of white men voting for them, even if it’s not the majority. And they need to court those votes, because there are as many non-Hispanic white male voters as there are black female, black male, Hispanic male, and Hispanic female voters combined. If Jeong’s rhetoric becomes mainstream, it will be political suicide for the Democratic Party. There will be a mass exodus of white democratic voters. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind about that. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/522 "2018-08-11T12:20:59Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > If Jeong’s rhetoric becomes mainstream, it will be political suicide for the Democratic Party. There will be a mass exodus of white democratic voters. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind about that. I heartily agree with you, however, I must note that this is not the case now with the mainstream Democratic party. I suspect you’d agree with me on this, but there are already some people who claim to dislike the Democratic Party because of their identity politics. I’m just not seeing it myself from the leadership. If this sort of rhetoric does become mainstream, I agree that it will hurt the Democratic Party. It wouldn’t make _me_ not vote or switch my party allegiance because the GOP is now the party of actual insane people. If the party were more merely evil like they were in the 90s that would be another story. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/523 "2018-08-11T12:22:54Z")
[Why identity politics benefits the right more than the left](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/14/identity-politics-right-left-trump-racism) > [@Sheri Berman](#): > > Rather than being directly translated into behavior, psychologists tell us beliefs can remain latent until “triggered”. In a fascinating study, Karen Stenner shows in The Authoritarian Dynamic that while some individuals have “predispositions” towards intolerance, these predispositions require an external stimulus to be transformed into actions. Or, as another scholar puts it: “It’s as though some people have a button on their foreheads, and when the button is pushed, they suddenly become intensely focused on defending their in-group. . . . But when they perceive no such threat, their behavior is not unusually intolerant. So the key is to understand what pushes that button.” > > What pushes that button, Stenner and others find, is group-based threats. In experiments researchers easily shift individuals from indifference, even modest tolerance, to aggressive defenses of their own group by exposing them to such threats. Maureen Craig and Jennifer Richeson, for example, found that simply making white Americans aware that they would soon be a minority increased their propensity to favor their own group and become wary of those outside it.(Similar effects were found among Canadians. Indeed, although this tendency is most dangerous among whites since they are the most powerful group in western societies, researchers have consistently found such propensities in all groups.) ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/524 "2018-08-11T13:53:55Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I heartily agree with you, however, I must note that this is not the case now with the mainstream Democratic party. I suspect you’d agree with me on this, but there are already some people who claim to dislike the Democratic Party because of their identity politics. I’m just not seeing it myself from the leadership. If this sort of rhetoric does become mainstream, I agree that it will hurt the Democratic Party. It’s unlikely we will see explicit hostility against Whites from Democratic politicians in the near future. The worst that will happen is they might wink and nod and play footsie under the tables with folks like Sarah Jeong and Ta-Nehisi Coates. No you won’t see them actually tweeting “Fuck White People”. But merely having dinner with someone like Jeong might be interpreted as an anti-white dogwhistle that could hurt their election chances. Democrats need to keep their distance from this talk. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/525 "2018-08-11T13:56:21Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > It’s unlikely we will see explicit hostility against Whites from Democratic politicians in the near future. The worst that will happen is they might wink and nod and play footsie under the tables with folks like Sarah Jeong and Ta-Nehisi Coates. No you won’t see them actually tweeting “Fuck White People”. But merely having dinner with someone like Jeong might be interpreted as an anti-white dogwhistle that could hurt their election chances. Democrats need to keep their distance from this talk. Coates has never made anti-white jokes or any other anti-white assertion. What the fuck are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/budget_player_cadet/32/205_2.png) [@Budget\_Player\_Cadet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Budget_Player_Cadet)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/526 "2018-08-11T15:08:52Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > It’s unlikely we will see explicit hostility against Whites from Democratic politicians in the near future. The worst that will happen is they might wink and nod and play footsie under the tables with folks like Sarah Jeong and Ta-Nehisi Coates. No you won’t see them actually tweeting “Fuck White People”. But merely having dinner with someone like Jeong might be interpreted as an anti-white dogwhistle that could hurt their election chances. Democrats need to keep their distance from this talk. To be fair, Ta-Nehisi Coates is an internationally renowned author, journalist, and intellectual with a very positive reputation. But hey, not everyone has the chops to be endorsed and close personal friends with Alex “they’re turning the frogs gay” Jones. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/527 "2018-08-11T15:19:01Z")
Thank you for your concern, **Blalron** , but we’ll take it from here. Rest assured, we will give them all the attention they deserve. Put your feet up, relax, we got this. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/528 "2018-08-11T15:26:49Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > If Jeong’s rhetoric becomes mainstream, it will be political suicide for the Democratic Party. There will be a mass exodus of white democratic voters. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind about that. You mean the rhetoric where she was making fun of the way whites have often talked about blacks? Yeah, if the Dems all of a sudden started talking about whites in the manner that the Deplorables (including the Deplorable-in-Chief) talk about blacks and Mexicans and Muslims and whatnot - yep, it would be political suicide. Stupid but true. But what’s your point? ETA; If a giant meteor struck the Earth, that would be bad too. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/529 "2018-08-11T15:28:21Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > [Why identity politics benefits the right more than the left](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/14/identity-politics-right-left-trump-racism) Well, YEAH. That’s why the right makes a metric ton of baseless accusations that the left is doing that. DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/530 "2018-08-11T16:28:21Z")
> [@Ryan\_Liam](#): > > I’m not claiming to not see it, I’m directly challenging your assertion that due to power imbalances within society, one group gets to make racist jokes at the expense of another group and that this is somehow equitable. It isn’t. So, you are one of those who feel that the bully and the bullied are equitably at fault. It’s not an uncommon sentiment, as there are many who identify with and defend the bully rather than the victim. > [@](#): > > If you’d bothered to read my posts, I’ve said the general discourse was white people being fired for being racist irrespective of the context, which they were, so again, why does Jeong get a pass, context has mattered very little for previous firings whether it being a joke or otherwise, so why does she stay? I did read your posts, and I disagree that there is a pervasive “general discourse” that has any sort of binding or probative power over the actions of companies relations with their employees or with their leadership. That you disagree that there is a different context between a minority responding to hateful language directed at her with some unwise responses that she has since apologized for getting a job, and a leader of a company being told repeatedly not to use a particular word, and insisting on using it anyway, well, the speaks to that leader’s capabilities and judgement. Investors have every right to be nervous about a leader of a company that shows such poor judgement. > [@](#): > > I’m not demanding anything, I’m saying don’t be surprised when alot of people get angry at the double standard enacted when we all know too well if a white equivalent had done the same thing, they’d be out on their ass, apology or no apology, if you want to be defensive about that, be my guest. Then you are not demanding, fair enough. You are threatening. There is a difference, but not one that puts you in a positive light. > [@](#): > > Rosanne Barr, Papa John, Johnathan Friedland, Quinn Norton all white, all fired for racism in the last 12 months. And we have been over this several times. Roasanne got fired because she pissed off everonye she worked with to the point where the producer and writer quit, and the rest of the cast was ready to go too. Should they have forced the writer and staff to continue to work with a person who was actively hostile to them? It was not just the particular tweet attacking a particular individual over their race, it was a pattern of behavior that alienated all of her co-workers. Papa John complained, on an investor call, meaning with the people who have trusted him with their money, that he wasn’t allowed to say the N-word. The investors realized that they could no longer trust their money in his hands given that he has shown very poor judgement with several PR gaffes that have cost the company enormous amounts of revenue, and asked him to leave. The complaint that he wasn’t allowed to freely use racial slurs was just the last straw in a series. Should the investors had to continue to have this man represent the company that they actually owned? Friedland had been told not to use the N-Word. He chose to do so on an investor call. The investors decided that that was an exercise of poor judgement, and no longer wanted him in a position of leadership. Quinn, while employed by the NYT, used homophobic slurs and associated with white nationalists, and was unapologetic about it. I will say that if she had apologized and indicated that she would change, then they should have considered keeping her, but a she refused to, they really had little choice there. Jeong responded to racist and misogynistic attacks against her with insults that matched the nature of attacks she received. She realized that that was a mistake, apologized, and vowed to no longer do that. Later, she was offered a job at the NYT. I think that the problem that you are seeing is not that there is an inconsistency, but that white people have tended to have been much less apologetic about their use of racial language, and have tended to come from higher positions of power from which to fall. > [@](#): > > I’ve made that claim because there’s evidence to back it up, and it’s the main reason as to why people were piling on Jeong like they did, because of this perceived double standard. It is only perceived that way by people who refuse to actually perceive reality. I get it, I really do, you want to perceive hypocrisy, so you change the facts to fit that narrative. But at the end of the day, you do have to realize that you are just living in a fantasy world, where your shitty attitude towards those you deign as lower than yourself is justified because once, one of those minorities didn’t know their place in front of you. > [@](#): > > Oh right, so by that definition it’s ok to make racist comments whilst provoked. Got it. Nice strawman, as I never said it was okay. Unlike the white people that you are defending here, Jeong does not agree that what she did was okay, and has apologized for it. Now, it is understandable that someone under attack may fight back in a way that is less than perfectly PC and respectful to their attackers, but that still doesn’t make it “OK.” Nut it does make it more forgivable than being one of the attackers, who are the ones that you are defending. > [@](#): > > Why not, all the white people who got fired for racism weren’t able to defend themselves using context as a defence, so by example, why should she? Sure, they can defend themselves based on context. For instance, Leonardo DiCaprio once said, “I’ve been surrounded my entire life by black faces. I only have one question: Why don’t they just rise up and kill the whites?”, and didn’t get into any trouble over it at all. Context matters. > [@](#): > > All of it? Is that ok? Well, you certainly don’t seem to be being quiet. You are talking about a minorty. You are objecting to her getting a position where you may need to read her words from time to time. And you are doing so because she was out of line and didn’t know her place. You say that you disagree with all of that? That’s okay, but it is also a lie. > [@](#): > > No it isn’t Yes it is. > [@](#): > > It’s not years later, and I read about it on BBC News. I didn’t need someone to formulate an opinion for me, I came to the conclusion all by myself, like a big boy should. When was the latest problematic tweet? How did this come to the attention of news outlets like the BBC? Had it not been for the hit piece by Sullivan, it would not have been in the BBC. No, you did not come to this conclusion on your own, you were lead there by white wing trolls. You can either accept that, that you are repeating white nationalist propaganda, or you can fool yourself into thinking that you came to this hate all on your own. Your choice. > [@](#): > > Haha, that’s pretty disingenious, you knew what I meant, I was implying along with the racial joke that if the Jeong situation was inverted and that a white author had said that about a minority, would they have kept their job. You know that wouldn’t happen. Yeah, I knew what you meant, You asked if I had made the same types of tweet as her, if I would be fired. Now that you change what you meant to if I had made tweets where I was maligning minorities, then yes, most likely, I would be. > [@](#): > > Again, disingenious, if a CEO of Apple embezzles money, and a McDonalds employee is stealing from the cash register, they’re both stealing money. That’s the correct definition. But, they are not doing the same thing. One is a white CEO who continues to show poor judgment by repeating a word that he has been told not to use, while talking to the investors of his company, and one was a writer for a barely heard of rag who responded to racist attacks directed against her personally with charged language which she subsequently apologized for. It would be disingenuous to treat those situations the same, because they are not. > [@](#): > > It’s not a demand, it’s an ideal is ascribe too. I promote it where I can. And threaten when you cannot. > [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > No. No it’s not. White fragility is when a white person gets defensive and uncomfortable when people bring up racism. Being offended by #cancelwhitepeople is NOT white fragility. Hearing that a writer that you had never heard of before responded in a conversation about how white power structures were harming people based on their color use a term like #cancelwhite people and being offended by learning of it is pretty much the definition of getting defensive and uncomfortable when people bring up racism. > [@](#): > > This is more of an exercise in pointing out liberal hypocrisy than insisting that Netflix have the same standards as the NYT. The reaction to Jeong’s racism should not be so different than the reaction to the Netflix exec. But for some people ity matters that it eased conservatives that brought it to light. This is more of a pathetic attempt at accusing liberal hypocrisy by insisting that “The reaction to Jeong’s racism should not be so different than the reaction to the Netflix exec.”, even though they were different companies, different people making the decision, different circumstances, and different timelines. > [@](#): > > For reasonable rational people the source of ther revelation of Jeong’s racism is no more relevant than the source of the emails showing that the DNC was playing favorites or that Hillary got the debate questions. Hillary is not part of this thread, but once again, you do show some remarkably pathetic judgment that you fell for that narrative as well. > [@](#): > > Of choose they do. Huh? > [@Blalron](#): > > [Why identity politics benefits the right more than the left](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/14/identity-politics-right-left-trump-racism) Hmmm, so what the cite that you have chosen to present is saying, is that there are racists out there who are content to not punish minorities, unless they are reminded that there are minorities to be punished. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/531 "2018-08-11T16:43:22Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > You mean the rhetoric where she was making fun of the way whites have often talked about blacks? > > Yeah, if the Dems all of a sudden started talking about whites in the manner that the Deplorables (including the Deplorable-in-Chief) talk about blacks and Mexicans and Muslims and whatnot - yep, it would be political suicide. Stupid but true. But what’s your point? ETA; If a giant meteor struck the Earth, that would be bad too. Note that Trump never explictly say that whites are superior to non-whites or that he hates non-whites. You can make a good case that he implies it, but there’s at least a fig leaf of plausible deniability. I think you can make a better case that he’s a nationalist rather than a racist. Trump certainly doesn’t spit in the face of non-white citizens who do support him. He seems to welcome their support. This is in contrast to Woke Progressives who spit in the face of white Democrats. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/532 "2018-08-11T16:51:01Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Note that Trump never explictly say that whites are superior to non-whites or that he hates non-whites. You can make a good case that he implies it, but there’s at least a fig leaf of plausible deniability. I think you can make a better case that he’s a nationalist rather than a racist. > > Trump certainly doesn’t spit in the face of non-white citizens who do support him. He seems to welcome their support. This is in contrast to Woke Progressives who spit in the face of white Democrats. I would say that this qualifies as that > [@](#): > > “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. … I think that the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault, because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.” But he does typically use the ‘inner cities’ type code words. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/533 "2018-08-11T17:03:04Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Well, YEAH. That’s why the right makes a metric ton of baseless accusations that the left is doing that. > > DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH. Believe it or not, but there are legitimate critiques of identity politics from folk on the left. We’re not all right wing concern trolls making baseless accusations. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/534 "2018-08-11T17:07:05Z")
Papa John and Roseanne got their just deserts. It’s the Netflix exec who got really hosed, kind of like that guy at Google (although that was about gender). > [@rat\_avatar](#): > > Nope, just refusing to play your dishonest word games. This is disingenuous as fuck. The dishonest word games are on your part. You make a show of claiming that since it’s hard to agree on the definition of “racism” or “prejudice”, that you wanted your interlocutors to provide whatever clearly defined terms they wish, to facilitate discussion and be on the same page. Very high-minded of you. But the reality is that I’ve been doing that from the jump, never accusing Jeong of “racism” or “prejudice”. Instead, I used, as I have been using for months, a description that could not possibly be misunderstood. Specifically, I have said that we should call for progressives to “abstain from dragging people solely for traits they were born with and cannot change, and urge others to do the same”. That was the exact wording in the post you quoted. But that isn’t something you can very easily contest, is it now? So you made up a bunch of horseshit about my “word games” so you could go back to your comfort zone and slay the straw dragon you just constructed. Nice try, but nuh uh. > [@Ludovic](#): > > I heartily agree with you, however, I must note that this is not the case now with the mainstream Democratic party. I suspect you’d agree with me on this, but there are already some people who claim to dislike the Democratic Party because of their identity politics. I’m just not seeing it myself from the leadership. If this sort of rhetoric does become mainstream, I agree that it will hurt the Democratic Party. > > It wouldn’t make _me_ not vote or switch my party allegiance because the GOP is now the party of actual insane people. If the party were more merely evil like they were in the 90s that would be another story. It sounds like you and I are very much on the same page, except that I think we are already into dangerous territory due to the fact that those mainstream Democratic politicians don’t dare to push back when a BLM activist runs on stage and grabs the microphone. And there’s certainly no one with the guts to pull a “Sister Souljah” move these days (not that I am necessarily saying that would be wise in today’s climate with social media and everything). It’s a tough spot, very worrisome. > [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Coates has never made anti-white jokes or any other anti-white assertion. What the fuck are you talking about? Serioiusly, dude? If this is sincere and not disingenuous, maybe you should read this NYT op-ed: > **[Opinion | How Ta-Nehisi Coates Gives Whiteness Power (Published 2017)](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/opinion/ta-nehisi-coates-whiteness-power.html)** > > As long as we fetishize race, we’re guaranteed to be trapped by it. It doesn’t take a lot of reading between the lines to get the clear inference from TNC’s every utterance (that’s an exaggeration but not a huge one) that he believes white Americans are essentially equivalent to Nazis in the 1930s. > [@Blalron](#): > > Do you believe that white swing voters who are turned off by anti-white rhetoric are “white nationalist terrorists”? I’m going to be generous here and assume that you don’t actually believe that, and are being hyperbolic. The alternative is that you are a complete moron. I agree that it has to be one or the other! ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/535 "2018-08-11T17:09:39Z")
> [@Blalron](#): > > Believe it or not, but there are legitimate critiques of identity politics from folk on the left. We’re not all right wing concern trolls making baseless accusations. The identity politics of the right is of the white male. The identity politics of the left is everyone else. Sure, there is plenty to criticize, if your primary concern is over the plight of the white male, as the left doesn’t give them the highest priority like the right does. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/536 "2018-08-11T17:20:34Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > The identity politics of the right is of the white male. > > The identity politics of the left is everyone else. Sure, there is plenty to criticize, if your primary concern is over the plight of the white male, as the left doesn’t give them the highest priority like the right does. So you don’t care about the electoral reality I pointed out, that there are as many non-Hispanic white male voters as black male, black female, Hispanic male, and Hispanic female voters combined—and that if white males were as overwhelmingly Republican as black females are overwhelmingly Democratic, Romney would have won by twenty points instead of losing? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/537 "2018-08-11T17:35:17Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > So you don’t care about the electoral reality I pointed out, that there are as many non-Hispanic white male voters as black male, black female, Hispanic male, and Hispanic female voters combined—and that if white males were as overwhelmingly Republican as black females are overwhelmingly Democratic, Romney would have won by twenty points instead of losing? That is a complete non-sequitur to what I said. You do realize that not everyone is a selfish racist, right, and that just because someone is a white male, that doesn’t mean that they have to vote for people who promote white males at the expense of others? For instance, as a white male myself, I have voted for democrats, as I am not terrified that we live in a negative or zero sum world, and that in order to lift others out of poverty and oppression, that we have to be impoverished and oppressed ourselves. You are correct that black females are going to vote more in masse against someone who is racist than white males are going to vote for someone who is racist, but that is because not all white males support racism. In fact, some white males can see how they themselves will be better off if we improve the lot of those who are disadvantage to us. I don’t need a party to tell me that I am special in order to vote for them. I need a party that is willing to govern for all. All you’re pointing out is that the concern trolling and instance that fragile white males need to be coddled in order for democrats to retake power is unnecessary and counterproductive. ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/538 "2018-08-11T17:36:11Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Hmmm, so what the cite that you have chosen to present is saying, is that there are racists out there who are content to not punish minorities, unless they are reminded that there are minorities to be punished. A lot of white people don’t think of themselves as white people… unless they keep seeing a lot of messages that lead them to think white people are under attack. The Alt-Right wants white people to believe they are under attack. Sarah Jeong posted hundreds of tweets attacking white people. This feeds the narrative that white people are under attack. Whether she and other Identity Leftists are intending it or not, they are fueling a defensive reaction. Thinking that Jeong’s style of communicating is going to effectively combat racism is like trying to stop a fire by pouring gasoline on it. It not only fails that purpose, it’s counterproductive. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/539 "2018-08-11T17:40:05Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Serioiusly, dude? If this is sincere and not disingenuous, maybe you should read this NYT op-ed: > > [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/opinion/ta-nehisi-coates-whiteness-power.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/opinion/ta-nehisi-coates-whiteness-power.html) > > It doesn’t take a lot of reading between the lines to get the clear inference from TNC’s every utterance (that’s an exaggeration but not a huge one) that he believes white Americans are essentially equivalent to Nazis in the 1930s. It seems that you count once again on others not reading what you misinterpret. > [@](#): > > This summer, I spent an hour on the phone with Richard Spencer. It was an exchange that left me feeling physically sickened. Toward the end of the interview, he said one thing that I still think about often. He referred to the all-encompassing sense of white power so many liberals now also attribute to whiteness as a profound opportunity. “This is the photographic negative of a white supremacist,” he told me gleefully. “This is why I’m actually very confident, because maybe those leftists will be the easiest ones to flip.” > > However far-fetched that may sound, what identitarians like Mr. Spencer have grasped, and what ostensibly anti-racist thinkers like Mr. Coates have lost sight of, is the fact that so long as we fetishize race, we ensure that we will never be rid of the hierarchies it imposes. We will all be doomed to stalk our separate paths. Thomas Chatterton Williams is a critic of Ta-Nehsi and clearly **he is not only complaining about white supremacists** , but also complaining about what in his view is Coats giving white supremacists a leg to stand on; but that is his opinion, dude. Many other reviewers of the work of Mr. Coats do see that his focus is indeed against white supremacy. Not all whites indeed. Most reviewers see that, overall, what Mr. Coats (A MacArthur Foundation genius winner) is writing about[is positive, not negative](https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/09/tanehisi-coates-macarthur/407566/)) ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2018, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086/540 "2018-08-11T18:01:27Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > It sounds like you and I are very much on the same page, except that I think we are already into dangerous territory due to the fact that those mainstream Democratic politicians don’t dare to push back when a BLM activist runs on stage and grabs the microphone. And there’s certainly no one with the guts to pull a “Sister Souljah” move these days (not that I am necessarily saying that would be wise in today’s climate with social media and everything). It’s a tough spot, very worrisome. It may please you watch this 2016 [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW5T4JHZJfU) where Bill Clinton argues with Black Lives Matter protestors. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086.md?page=26) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-york-times-hires-unapologetic-racist-writer/819086.md?page=28)