In some American work I have to read the dreck where these sorts of things are discussed:
The Washington Post has fired its reporter Felicia Sonmez, who triggered a vigorous online debate this week over social media policy and public treatment of colleagues after she criticized a fellow reporter for retweeting an offensive joke.
The Post said on Friday it would not comment on personnel issues. But a copy of a termination letter sent on Thursday, accusing her of “insubordination, maligning your coworkers online and violating the Post’s standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity” was published on the Mediaite website and quoted in other news accounts.
One bloke retweeted an apparently sexist joke (“All women are bi – you just have to find out whether it’s -sexual or -polar”) and the cool kids all went mental. He’s on a month’s unpaid leave.
Then all Hell broke loose as all weighed in – absolutely none of them defending the joke nor the retweet (no, really, a retweet). Actually reading what went on it’s Junior High. All the Cool Kids kicking down at one of the nerds who’s said something vaguely socially unacceptable.
The impression I came away with is that we’re simply not dealing with adults here. A fun little pune, or play on words – there is at least a modicum of witty wordplay there – leads to mobs of shrieking harpies.
It’s as if someone has cloned an entire newsroom of Owen Joneses and we all did think the WaPo was better than that.
we all did think the WaPo was better than that
Not me. Anything to the west of Milford Haven should be viewed with scepticism and liguistic borrowings are distinctly suspect.
As a Bathonian it’s anything west of Keynesham of course, and we’re not entirely sure about Twerton, let alone Saltford
’…and we all did think the WaPo was better than that.’
It’s been patently obvious for a good few years now that it isn’t.
I’m laughing. But I’m not a woman – no, really!!!!
More grist to my mill that leftists are people who have never matured out of childhood, psychologically speaking. They are children in adult bodies. Hence their constant droning about fairness and the desire for some large powerful external power source to enforce it. Its the internal dynamic of a child. And it explains the constant spats like this within leftist bodies and organisations too.
The lady in question, who had been behaving like an unusually immature and easily triggered teenager, is actually 39 years of age.
I suppose we should be grateful she’s not already in a position of influence within the Biden administration.
Being British I would have added “-cycles” to that joke, but perhaps it doesn’t work in America.
Imagine if he had told a funny joke, such as:
Q. Why is Uhura Black?
A. Because William Shatner.
“Horace Batchelor, Department One, Keynsham, spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M, Keynsham, Bristol”
FWIW, the joke was “all girls”, not “women”. And the irony of a woman acting like a girl & going mental over this is hysterical.
Reminds me of the old joke – “how many feminists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A – that’s not funny!”
And lastly, a few years back there was a movement to “ban bossy” – feminists were loudly proclaiming that no one should use the term “bossy” because it was sexist. So, you’re bossing everyone around to get us to stop using the term?
“we all did think the WaPo was better than that”: ya reckon?
The first time I saw an American newspaper was as a fresher. A copy of the NYT lay in our common room. I read it and then declared to the world that it was even duller than Le Monde. What’s happened since then is that the NYT, Washpo, WSJ et al have become so dishonest that it’s undisguiseable. I dare say that they’re just as dull as ever they were.
Esteban,I think the movement to ban Bossy was intended to protect candidate Clinton.
I don’t think it worked.
“Horace Batchelor, Department One, Keynsham, spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M, Keynsham, Bristol”
Memories are made of this…
“we all did think the WaPo was better than that”: ya reckon?
The Washington Post is missing the word “Where” at the beginning of their masthead.
@Tim
It’s been a looong while since Americans felt WaPo was better than that. At least since Bezos took over, they’ve been the CNN of print journalism.
I imagine their latest PR stunt is a pathetic attempt to divert from Taylor Lorenz. So some people got into a Twitter spat, big f’n deal. Difference is, the dude tweeted a harmless joke (liberals can spare me the “creates an unsafe environment” charge), but Felicia potentially messed with the company’s ESG rating. Anywhere I’ve worked, even if you’re terminated, you can’t bad-mouth the firm—certainly not directly. I think these journalists have let that “speak truth to power” grandstanding from their college professors go to their heads.
If Felicia was smart, she’d use her power and access as a journalist to question the wisdom of these contractual clauses that virtually all American corporations employ, and then exercise her free speech on her colleagues, rightly or wrongly.
Not over here in ‘Murca. The WaPo was Progressive rag before Bezos bought it, not its his and Davos’ mouthpiece. Live in the pod, eat the bugs, own nothing.
The whole thing comes because Millennials have learned how to weaponize outrage – and none deploy it better than Millennial journalists.
However, that *Wiegel*, of all people (Ron Jeremy’s uglier brother) managed to basically win this round is amazing.
Esteban: it’s symptomatic of these people that they think you can adjust reality by changing the words that describe reality. Ban the word “murder” and nobody will get killed. They just cannot comprehend that that is not how reality works. The word “murder” will disappear when murder itself disppears.
“The impression I came away with is that we’re simply not dealing with adults here. A fun little pune, or play on words – there is at least a modicum of witty wordplay there – leads to mobs of shrieking harpies.”
Redundant institutions. Once something gets surpassed by other technologies (see also art galleries or theatre), serious people move into the new institutions and the vacuum left is filled by activists of one sort or another. Often women who have enough money and just want the status of being a Guardian journalist or a museum curator. And their heads are full of 3rd wave feminism and other bullshit and they really don’t think like men who just try and get through the work without fucking up the team and to resolve things amicably.
People with a talent for writing aren’t in journalism. They’re in PR and advertising. We don’t really need newspapers. You want to know what Number 10 are up to? Follow them on Twitter. Which means that Number 10 needs good writers. So newspapers are just full of Everything Is Racist op-eds.
“All women are bi – you just have to find out whether it’s -sexual or -polar”
Or Bye Felecia in this case
@Bloke on M4
I work in advertising, and many ad agencies have a PR department as well.
People with a talent for writing aren’t there either.
The talented writers are those creating content that a lot of people are reading.
“Horace Batchelor, Department One, Keynsham, spelt K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M, Keynsham, Bristol”
I found this comment a while ago:
“During the 1970s I was a Police Sergeant based in Keynsham. Horace Batchelor was a well known but reclusive celebrity who lived on Bath Road. One morning I heard over the radio that one of my officers had been called to his house. A short while later the officer came to the police station and told everyone, “I’ve just been to Horace Batchelor’s house, and he’s dead, spelled D E A D.”
http://www.turnipnet.com/whirligig/tv/memories/snippets/snippets16.htm