@Plumazul @drvox Stephens (and me) accept climate chg. Problem is any questioning in grey areas viewed as sacrilegious. Cancel NYT wave is just childish.
— Chris Hopkins (@HopkinsTN) May 1, 2017
The New York Times is still in hot water after having the gall — the gall! — to hire conservative op-ed columnist Bret Stephens and allowing him to suggest that while climate change may be a very real threat, there’s still a lot we don’t know about it. A bunch of prominent liberals — you know, the open-minded ones — lost their ever-loving minds.
This morning, Vox’s David Roberts jumped into the fray and joined the chorus of those suggesting that the NYT screwed up by giving Stephens a platform:
My new post: The New York Times should not have hired Bret Stephens https://t.co/0G0g3FecP1
— David Roberts (@drvox) May 1, 2017
Roberts writes:
It takes a particular sort of insularity to hire a pro-war, anti-Trump white guy as a contribution to diversity on the NYT editorial page.
Worse, Stephens is the kind of conservative writer who has feasted on easy shots at liberals for so long that he has let himself get lazy. Read his interview with Vox’s Jeff Stein, who actually pushed him a little. He says things like this:
I think Black Lives Matter has some really thuggish elements in it. Look — at the risk of being incredibly politically incorrect, but I guess that’s my job — I think that all lives matter. Not least black lives.
“All lives matter”? The nerve! But that’s still not nearly as egregious as his biggest offense, according to Roberts: His stance on climate change.
Oh, and did we mention this?
The fact that @BretStephensNYT is "pro-Israel" is used against him in a @voxdotcom piece about his climate change arguments.
— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) May 1, 2017
Because why not?
@JeffreyGoldberg @BretStephensNYT @voxdotcom it was only a matter of time
— Josh Rosenfeld (@shuaros) May 1, 2017
@JeffreyGoldberg @BretStephensNYT @voxdotcom Yeah, not sure I see how that advances the thesis that he's a "climate change bullshitter."
— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) May 1, 2017
It doesn’t, really. But Vox isn’t known for making compelling cases, are they? Ironic that one of Roberts’ complaints about Stephens is the latter’s taking “easy shots at liberals” when liberals like Roberts make it so easy to call them out on their own B.S.
aside for expected illiberalism, it's weird to see ppl get mad at stephens for pointed out that anti-semitism is rampant in the Arab world. https://t.co/ymXbuvrYHM
— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) May 1, 2017
@drvox @andyskuce You poor thing…someone you disagree with has been given a platform? Perhaps a safe space would help?
— BubbaFett33 (@Bubbafett33) May 1, 2017
@drvox This contributes to the increasingly accurate stereotype of liberals who wish to silence rather than refute opposing perspectives.
— Chris Hopkins (@HopkinsTN) May 1, 2017
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Related:
‘Go eat dog d*cks’: Bret Stephens’ debut column for the NYT has liberals MELTING DOWN
New York Times ‘slammed’ with cancellations as punishment for climate change heresy
