Bari Weiss, already an outstanding writer, was brought into the New York Times as an opinion editor to add a patina of intellectual diversity to the Old Gray Lady. The Times wasn’t having it. Her “co-workers” treated her as you’d expect, which meant being a gay woman did not protect her from their abuse.
My own forays into Wrongthink have made me the subject of constant bullying by colleagues who disagree with my views. They have called me a Nazi and a racist; I have learned to brush off comments about how I’m “writing about the Jews again.” Several colleagues perceived to be friendly with me were badgered by coworkers. My work and my character are openly demeaned on company-wide Slack channels where masthead editors regularly weigh in. There, some coworkers insist I need to be rooted out if this company is to be a truly “inclusive” one, while others post ax emojis next to my name. Still other New York Times employees publicly smear me as a liar and a bigot on Twitter with no fear that harassing me will be met with appropriate action. They never are.
Weiss resigned in style and has since been something of a darling to the center-right.
Weiss was given an opportunity to speak at The Federalist Societies Barbra K. Olson Memorial Lecture. She took the opportunity to talk about the warning signs and the decline of Civilization. And it’s good stuff. I’ve shared a few excerpts. A video of the entire speech is available below. (Related: Open Letter on the Cancel Culture: 150 Ruling Class Elites Worry The Monster They Created Will Eat Them.)
When antisemitism moves from the shameful fringe into the public square, it is not about Jews. It is never about Jews. It is about everyone else. It is about the surrounding society or the culture or the country. It is an early warning system—a sign that the society itself is breaking down. That it is dying.
It is a symptom of a much deeper crisis—one that explains how, in the span of a little over 20 years since Sept 11, educated people now respond to an act of savagery not with a defense of civilization but with a defense of barbarism.
…
For Jews, there are obvious and glaring dangers in a worldview that measures fairness by equality of outcome rather than opportunity. If underrepresentation is the inevitable outcome of systemic bias, then overrepresentation—and Jews are 2 percent of the American population—suggests not talent or hard work, but unearned privilege. This conspiratorial conclusion is not that far removed from the hateful portrait of a small group of Jews divvying up the ill-gotten spoils of an exploited world.
But it is not only Jews who suffer from the suggestion that merit and excellence are dirty words. It is every single one of us. It is strivers of every race, ethnicity, and class. That is why Asian American success, for example, is suspicious. The percentages are off. The scores are too high. The starting point, as poor immigrants, is too low. From whom did you steal all that success?
It’s not all bad news. After evaluating the symptoms and the disease, Weiss offers some good news.
New York coffee shop owner Aaron Dahan had all of his baristas quit when he placed an Israeli flag in the window and began fundraising for Magen David Adom—the Israeli Red Cross.
But his café didn’t close—quite the opposite. Suppliers sent him free shipments of beans and cups. Community members picked up shifts for free. There were lines around the block to buy a cup of coffee. The cafe made $25,000 in a single day.
Just this week, American cowboys from the Great Plains and the Rockies traveled to Israel to tend to the fields and animals of Israeli farmers who were killed in the past month. This is the opposite of the cheap solidarity of standing with Hamas that we see across our campuses and city centers. This is the essence of the West—of the idea that free societies must stand together.
And she’s got suggestions for how we come back.
- Look at your enemies and your allies. …and I say this more to myself than to you. Many of you have no doubt understood this longer than I have. But for many people, friends and enemies are likely not who they thought they were before October 7. Looking at who your friends and enemies are might mean giving up nice things. Giving up Harvard. Or the club. … The point is that things—that prestige—aren’t the point of our lives. Harvard and Yale don’t give us our value.
- Second, we—you—must enforce the law. The wave of elected so-called “progressive prosecutors” has proven to be an immensely terrible thing for law and order in cities across America. It turns out that choosing not to enforce the law doesn’t reduce crime. It promotes it. It is no coincidence that many of the same activists who have pushed to “defund the police” are also now publicly harassing Jews.
- Third: no more double standards on speech. Public universities are constitutionally forbidden from imposing content-based restrictions on free speech. And yet, that’s precisely what they’ve been doing.
- Fourth, accept that you are the last line of defense and fight, fight, fight. … Time to defend our values—the values that have made this country the freest, most tolerant society in the history of the world—without hesitation or apology. … “always answer an accusation or a charge” do not let falsehood stand unchallenged. We have let far too much go unchallenged. Too many lies have spread in the face of inaction as a result of fear or politeness. Do not bite your tongue. Do not tremble. Do not go along with little lies. Speak up. Break the wall of lies. Let nothing go unchallenged. Our enemies’ failure is not assured and there is no cavalry coming. We are the cavalry. We are the last line of defense. Our civilization depends on us.
Here is the full speech
HT | The Free Press
