Washington Examiner Furious Over NYT Condemnation of Violence
A right wing writer described the NYT Editorial Board as “ethically degenerate” right before pooh-poohing the idea that rising Nazism is a problem in the US.
by Evan Urquhart
In the Washington Examiner, a right wing tabloid that usually remains semi-sane, Commentary Writer Quin Hillyer has an eye popping lede paragraphe in an essay fuming over the New York Times taking an editorial stance against violence targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
The word choice of degenerate here is notable because the concept of degeneracy, which came out of the eugenics movement, is most closely associated with the ideas of Nazi Germany. This makes the subsequent paragraph, which treats the idea that there has been a resurgance of Nazi ideas in the American right wing extremely suspect. While it’s certainly… possible Hillyer is unaware of the Nazi connotations to the word “degenerate” it seems somewhat more probable that the writer has used it intentionally, as if with a wink, before saying this:
The essay goes on to pretend that the NYT editorial made no mention of real world incidents of violence, intimidation, and vandalsim (which the editorial most assuredly does), pretending instead that the Times is concerned only with online threats. It then contrasts such threats with incidents of vandalism targeting anti-abortion pregnancy centers. (Such centers have been harshly criticized for posing as abortion clinics and using lies and manipulation to prevent women from seeking the legal abortions they want.)
The silver lining here, of course, is the NYT editorial itself. It’s actually very good! Because it’s attributed to the Editorial Board, rather than to an individual writer, it means that it is speaking for the New York Times as an institution, rather than as any one individual. This means that when it rightly describes the growing climate of extremist rhetoric from right wing outlets it is the Times saying that this climate exists. When it says that trans and LGBTQ+ people are being targeted and ties it to threats and incidents of violence from extremists on the right, it is the Times condemning this.
Of course, the editorial says nothing of the NYT’s role in stoking fears in the mainstream that trans people might be harming kids, but that one quibble shouldn’t distract from the good that an official editorial like this represents. Many mainstream Americans trust the NYT greatly. Having the editorial board lay out a clear case that violence against LGBTQ+ people is real and growing, and that Americans need to do more to stop the right wing’s targeting of our community, is significant and welcome to the extreme.