<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654606560099,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000172-ebac-d265-adff-fffc847c0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654606560099,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000172-ebac-d265-adff-fffc847c0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54606452", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1026914"} }); ","_id":"00000181-3e3b-df81-a381-7e3fdee20000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedWithin a couple of years, will the Washington Post be run by censorious left-wing millennials? Or is it already?
Dave Weigel, a skilled and tireless Washington Post reporter who is also left of center, ideologically, was reportedly suspended for a month because he retweeted a bawdy joke. The retweet upset Felicia Sonmez, a further-left reporter who was suspended two years ago for her own tweets. Weigel undid his retweet and apologized. That didn’t matter — he got suspended anyway.
The major institutions of our culture, such as our universities, media outlets, and so on, are becoming hostages to a mob of young and intolerant ideologues who believe that “bad” speech, including a tasteless joke, causes “real harm.” At the same time, the managers of these institutions combine an awkwardness with social media with a cowardice in the face of passionate young people with zero doubt about their own righteousness.
The irony here — and it’s not an accident — is that the Washington Post was also wrong to suspend Sonmez two years ago and that Weigel publicly defended Sonmez against that suspension.
At the time, I wrote that the Washington Post was wrong to suspend Sonmez for her tweets after the death of NBA legend Kobe Bryant. Sonmez had tweeted about the sexual assault allegations against the late Bryant. She followed up by tweeting out the hate mail she received over email. Many people believe you shouldn’t criticize the recently deceased. I disagree. So, evidently, did Sonmez. Her tweets yielded a barrage of emails and social media posts against her, and the Washington Post caved, suspending her.
Many Washington Post writers at the time signed a letter objecting to her suspension, writing, “We write to share our alarm and dismay that our newsroom leaders have chosen to place Felicia Sonmez on leave over a social media post.”
One of the signatories was Weigel.
Yet when Weigel made a retweet this week, for which he quickly apologized, it was Sonmez who sicced the mob and the management on him. And the Washington Post, once again, caved to the mob.
The problems here are manifold. A big one is the belief among young liberals, including most young journalists, that bad tweets are “harmful.” Another is the willingness of these large institutions to bow to mobs.
