If we’ve learned one thing from our moral, ethical, and intellectual betters on the left, it’s that all white people are racist. And if we’ve learned a second thing from our leftist betters, it’s that racism against white people is impossible because white people in America have all the power. This includes white people with no power over anything whatsoever. Even the most hopelessly impoverished Appalachian meth-head still has white privilege, and that privilege needs to be checked constantly. If you don’t think so, that just proves you’re a racist.
This is why the story of writer Sarah Jeong is so instructive. On Wednesday, Jeong joined the New York Times as their “lead writer on technology.” She has a lot of experience in this field because for years she made copious use of technology to express her opinions about white people.
Tyler O’Neil has cataloged most of Jeong’s really good tweets. I think this one shows the sort of keen critical eye that brought her to the attention of the NYT:
And the lyrical beauty of this analogy cannot be denied:
Plus, Jeong is something of a science expert:
But she also has a sense of humor!
Do you get the joke here? See, Jeong wasn’t being racist. She was being satirically racist. She was counter-trolling. She was just mimicking the people who were racist to her, as a commentary on their racism. Over and over and over.
If this sounds like a flimsy excuse to you, that just means you’re not smart enough to work for the NYT:
Our statement in response to criticism of the hiring of Sarah Jeong. pic.twitter.com/WryIgbaoqg
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) August 2, 2018
See? It makes sense when you don’t think about it.
I mean, Jeong is Korean-American. Whoever heard of a Korean being racist? Is that even possible?
This little dustup reminds me of Quinn Norton, another writer who was hired by the NYT earlier this year. She was hired on a Tuesday afternoon and fired that evening. The reason? You guessed it: bad tweets. Norton had used racial and homophobic slurs, and her excuse was very similar to Jeong’s excuse. She claimed she was appropriating the language of bad people in order to make a point, and that her words didn’t reflect her actual beliefs.
Norton’s excuse didn’t work. Coincidentally, she’s white. If you think the first thing has anything at all to do with the second thing, guess what that makes you?
Obviously, the NYT can hire or fire anyone, at any time, for any reason. They can accept or reject any excuse they want. They can impose as many separate and contradictory sets of standards as they want, based on any criteria they choose or none at all. They can…
I was about to say, “They can circle the wagons,” but that would be racist against another group of people it’s not okay to be racist against. Glad I stopped myself in time. Whew!
Anyway, the point is that you can yell about it all day, but it doesn’t matter. If you’re angry enough about Sarah Jeong to cancel your NYT subscription, you never had a subscription in the first place. Your opinion doesn’t matter because you’re not a member of their tribe.
So what if she’s obviously, blatantly racist? It’s never stopped Charles Blow.
Sarah Jeong is the perfect NYT hire. I’m glad they’re showing us who she is, and who they are.
P.S. As it turns out, Jeong also hates cops and men. She even hates Paul Krugman! See? She’s gonna fit in at the Times just fine.
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