Twitchy reported last week, through the lens of a very unhappy David Klion, that The Atlantic had hired National Review’s Kevin D. Williamson.
Just saw that The Atlantic has hired Kevin D. Williamson, who also appears to have deleted his Twitter account. Williamson is a race-baiter, a bully, and a sociopath, and I don't imagine this ending well. https://t.co/Td1o4lgONP
— David Klion? (@DavidKlion) March 22, 2018
That tweet pretty much was the perfect introduction of Williamson to his new colleagues and readership. In a piece published Tuesday, Slate asked why “one of the country’s most venerable political magazines” would hire a “conservative troll.”
The Atlantic’s justifications for hiring Kevin Williamson ring awfully hollow: https://t.co/mYLqL3QhoL pic.twitter.com/y4v72pcCVm
— Slate (@Slate) March 27, 2018
Slate published bits of an internal memo to staff written by Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg:
The larger question is this: What am I trying to accomplish by having Kevin write for us? The first answer is this: He’s an excellent reporter who covers parts of the country, and aspects of American life, that we don’t yet cover comprehensively. I happen to think that conservatives made ideologically homeless by the rise of Trump are some of the most interesting people in America, and I want to read them whenever I can.
As our staff knows, because I go on about this ad nauseam, I take very seriously the idea that The Atlantic should be a big tent for ideas and argument. It is my mission to make sure that we outdo our industry in achieving gender equality and racial diversity. It is also my job is to make sure that we are ideologically diverse. Diversity in all its forms makes us better journalists; it also opens us up to new audiences. I would love to have an Ideas section filled with libertarians, socialists, anarcho-pacifists and theocons, in addition to mainstream liberals and conservatives, all arguing with each other.
The memo also answered critics of some of Williamson’s tweets, saying, “I don’t think that taking a person’s worst tweets, or assertions, in isolation is the best journalistic practice.”
So, welcome to The Atlantic, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts?
Last week on CNN, @brianstelter asked why conservatives didn’t try to join mainstream media outlets. Watch what’s happening with Kevin Williamson, and you have your answer.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) March 28, 2018
Ugh, that internal memo about Kevin Williamson is a bad sign. Shows the game is working.
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) March 27, 2018
The only way to beat that dynamic is to tell your people they can resign right now, if their conscience is so troubled.
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) March 27, 2018
Odds are none of them will. Because media jobs are precious enough. They're just privileged kids gaming you the way they gamed their rich, spineless parents.
— Michael Brendan Dougherty (@michaelbd) March 27, 2018
NRO contributing columnist Dan McLaughlin weighed in as well.
Part of the goal is not just to get every conservative fired as soon as they're hired by a MSM outlet, but to (1) show future employers that they'll have to weather a s***storm for every such hire and (2) start the conservative out on thin ice.
The angriest man in the room wins. https://t.co/4OYdhD1rzw
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) March 27, 2018
The ultimate goal is to de-normalize every conservative – especially those who are not pro-Trump. To make it seem as if conservative ideas are "controversial" but no left-wing idea is.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) March 27, 2018
This is not about persuasion or engagement; it never is. It's about using anger and organization to shout down, defund, and drive out opposing viewpoints.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) March 27, 2018
And yes, if you try to deprive half the country of public spokespeople, what do you get? You get people living in their own information silo & flocking to belligerent populists rather than people who deploy reason & evidence but can't get heard.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) March 27, 2018
I'm personally a "meet speech with speech and argument with argument" guy, and it really is depressing, when you scratch even a little beneath the surface, how few liberals & progressives are willing to grant that in return.
— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) March 27, 2018
https://twitter.com/TPCarney/status/978732163062431746
https://twitter.com/TPCarney/status/978732796301758465
I get it. You don't want liberal publications to hire conservative writers. Now shut the hell up.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) March 28, 2018
Related:
WEAK AF! Guy who wants to ban cars talks SMACK about Kevin Williamson (since he's not around) https://t.co/sfviPy6o5j
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) March 23, 2018
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