Someone called Jonah Shepp at the Dish says that, in this piece where I criticized Reihan Salam for his wrong and insulting piece on public school funding, I “lost it.” Honey, if you think that’s me losing it….
Look: read Salam’s piece. Then read mine. Reihan Salam’s piece was far, far more aggressive and insulting than mine. It’s just that it was directed at an army of public school teachers and administrators, not at a connected, popular writer. So his piece is just business as usual. Mine? Mine is losing it. You can be an immensely condescending jerk to public school teachers because there’s no risk, because it doesn’t ruffle any of the feathers that matter. But going after Salam? He’s a connected guy. So that’s losing it. You can insult literally millions of people who lack the voice, social circle, and connections of Salam. But you point out that he made that insult, and did it while demonstrating ignorance about the topic he was writing about, and suddenly, it’s to the fainting couches at the Dish.
People ask me why I always make this argument. And the answer is simple: because it never, ever changes. There will always be Jonah Shepps and they will always care more about preserving Reihan Salam’s delicate feelings than about telling the truth. It’s never gonna change.
Update: yeah I’m an idiot.
I actually took it as “what this other dude wrote was so F-ed up that other dude number 2 had to put it down…”
But that could be bias confirmation.
Yeah, I actually thought this Shepps guy is reacting more harshly to Reihan than Sullivan would have, especially by calling Reihan’s piece a “war on public school spending,” which is a little over-the-top. I think your reaction here is also a little over-the-top.
People always do!
I agree with the other commenters, Freddie. Losing one’s shit is not necessarily a bad thing, especially in this case. Sounds more like he got your point and understood your frustration with a bullshit argument. But I could be a victim of confirmation bias as well
yeah you guys are right. oh well.
Others beat me to it, but yeah–I don’t think Shepp is criticizing you here at all.
I find all of your arguments about the culture of media very frustrating because you’re obviously onto something real that doesn’t get talked about enough, but then a lot of the particular things you say are demonstrably false. For example, it just isn’t the case that someone like Reihan Salam doesn’t regularly get harsh criticism from other writers.
Seconded. A thicker skin and lighter trigger finger might help.
On the other hand, Shepp avoids explicitly siding with anyone and lets the quotes make the argument for him. When you’re entire post consists of a collection of counterposed quotes, you can’t really get too upset if people can’t tell which set of quotes you actually agree with.