The letter generated exactly the phenomenon it decried; Vox contributor Emily VanDerWerff wrote a letter to Vox management — and publicly posted it for all the world to see — that the decision of her colleague, Matt Yglesias, to sign the letter “makes me feel less safe at Vox and believe slightly less in its stated goals of building a more diverse and thoughtful workplace . . . Matt’s signature on a letter like this makes it do make my job slightly more difficult, as would-be readers do mistake my position for his.”
(Oh, really? Someone else at your publication having a different opinion makes readers mistake that colleague’s position for yours, huh? Try working with Conrad Black on one side and Jay Nordlinger and Kevin Williamson on the other and see how often your views get mischaracterized! My day just isn’t complete until I’ve been accused of being a MAGA-head drone and a NeverTrump extremist in the same hour. What VanDerWerff is complaining about isn’t a decision by Yglesias, it’s a reality of political journalism — lots of people don’t really pay attention to what you’ve written in the past, and you’re lucky if they have a vague sense of who you are and what you believe. I’m fairly certain people have had entire conversations with me believing that I’m Jim Treacher, Jim Pethokoukis, or Jim Scuitto — although thankfully, not Jim Acosta. It’s a good day when I’m not mistaken for Jim Beam.)
VanDerWerff characterized the letter as “a broadside against many disadvantaged communities, but it is particularly a broadside against trans people.” Click through and read it for yourself. The only mention of “trans” is in the word “transgressions.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/no-one-is-ever-woke-enough-2/
(Oh, really? Someone else at your publication having a different opinion makes readers mistake that colleague’s position for yours, huh? Try working with Conrad Black on one side and Jay Nordlinger and Kevin Williamson on the other and see how often your views get mischaracterized! My day just isn’t complete until I’ve been accused of being a MAGA-head drone and a NeverTrump extremist in the same hour. What VanDerWerff is complaining about isn’t a decision by Yglesias, it’s a reality of political journalism — lots of people don’t really pay attention to what you’ve written in the past, and you’re lucky if they have a vague sense of who you are and what you believe. I’m fairly certain people have had entire conversations with me believing that I’m Jim Treacher, Jim Pethokoukis, or Jim Scuitto — although thankfully, not Jim Acosta. It’s a good day when I’m not mistaken for Jim Beam.)
VanDerWerff characterized the letter as “a broadside against many disadvantaged communities, but it is particularly a broadside against trans people.” Click through and read it for yourself. The only mention of “trans” is in the word “transgressions.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/no-one-is-ever-woke-enough-2/
