Like it or not, it was a joke. As a male I found it funny. If you didn’t like it, bummer for you. Move along nothing to see here. Absolutely no reason to take it down or apologize.
I dont agree with everything you say, I am a middle of the road conservative without a party. I gladly pay for this subscription along with Matt Taibbi anda couple other liberal writers because I know when you & Matt write something its factual and unbiased. THANK YOU BARI FOR ALWAYS PROVIDING AWESOME ESSAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I first heard about you was over the Tom Cotton debacle at the NYT. You were not afraid to tell the truth. That is all I ask for in any journalist, film critic, artist, comedian, scientist. To not be so afraid of telling the truth that you go along with groupthink/hysteria. When we talk about the "fourth turning" - Neil Howe and William Strauss' generational theory, there are "alpha voices" that begin to lead once we live through the worst of it (we're in the thick of it now). You are absolutely one of those. You are an alpha voice, a natural leader - fearless, inquisitive, humble, honest. Thank you.
I am related by marriage to a Turkish journalist who retweeted something at the start of covid that was mildly critical of Erdogan. He was arrested, spent a month in prison, then released.
Have we become that different from an authoritarian dictator state?
This essay is right up there with your resignation letter, which turned me on to you in the first place. You just nailed it. Thank you for what you are doing. Please keep it up. You are making a difference.
When I taught in the English department at a university I had a cartoon on my bulletin board of two women in a bookstore, one behind a desk explaining: "This is a feminist bookstore. There is no humor section." Guess good thing I had tenure.
Sure, it’s misogynistic, and misogyny, boys and girls, is bad! I wholeheartedly agree! But humor exists as a safety valve or maybe the better metaphor is a meat grinder. You pass those violent, sexist, unacceptable thoughts through the grinder, and they come out as something shredded and harmless.
Or, at least, that’s how it seems to me.
Of course, what do I know?
PS: I am very glad you publish this Substack, Bari. I think yesterday's guest editorial about why the Depp/Heard slagfest verdict is the Big Bad was the very first time I have ever disagreed with anything you've printed.
I'm the first to admit I unsubscribed to the NYT and the Chicago Tribune. The only things I subscribe to are substack authors like you, The Daily Wire and the WSJ. As a former journalism major your analysis of the current state of the media is spot on. Short on trust for sure has transformed national media.
Let's face it. We are a nation of tattle tales. As a child, if I "ratted out" my cousins, my parents would chide me rather than them. "No one likes a tattle tale," my dad would say. I could feel my face turn red and the shame was far worse than the shove my cousin gave me that knocked me to the ground. My father's lesson in ethics sunk in.
The age of the wisecrack is over; it is equated to a minstrel show in the eyes of the young and the woke. Watch an episode of Seinfeld and count how many truly hilarious moments would be viewed as sexist, racist, etc. by today's standards.
Thank you, Bari for starting Common Sense. I don't always like or agree with the essays published but I thank God they are being published.
I’m a big fan of the work you’re doing - as someone who lives in bright red West TX but has written OpEds a few times for legacy publications offering more nuanced takes on the culture here, I get how hard it is to cross the finish line w a piece that doesn’t ideologically reflect the progressive worldview. They want “diverse perspectives” until the perspective is diverse.
Bari I’ve been following you since I read your resignation letter from the NY Times. As a British person who follows US politics, culture and civic life quite closely I have found Common Sense, Honestly and TGIF to be absolutely unmissable. Thank you for building this space for real people to have real conversations about real things that matter. Mazeltov!
Bari, love what you’re doing here and happy to support it.
Weigel’s mistake was apologizing for his joke. Not his problem that some found it unfunny or even offensive; that’s the nature of humor. Allowing the Progressive Mob to demand consequences for every joke they dislike is precisely how we got to the point where actual, physical violence is now being committed against comedians on stage... with some on the Left even defending it. Stop apologizing; it will never be enough.
If you had told this life-long politically conservative corporate lawyer 10 years ago that he would be thirsty to read Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss for good, honest, thought-provoking writing that is hard to find anywhere else, I would have thought you bonkers. I don't agree with all the folks who are featured here but my gosh it's good to read different perspectives from writers who are intellectually honest.
Don't look now, Bari, but you're running the best newspaper in America!
Like it or not, it was a joke. As a male I found it funny. If you didn’t like it, bummer for you. Move along nothing to see here. Absolutely no reason to take it down or apologize.
I dont agree with everything you say, I am a middle of the road conservative without a party. I gladly pay for this subscription along with Matt Taibbi anda couple other liberal writers because I know when you & Matt write something its factual and unbiased. THANK YOU BARI FOR ALWAYS PROVIDING AWESOME ESSAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I first heard about you was over the Tom Cotton debacle at the NYT. You were not afraid to tell the truth. That is all I ask for in any journalist, film critic, artist, comedian, scientist. To not be so afraid of telling the truth that you go along with groupthink/hysteria. When we talk about the "fourth turning" - Neil Howe and William Strauss' generational theory, there are "alpha voices" that begin to lead once we live through the worst of it (we're in the thick of it now). You are absolutely one of those. You are an alpha voice, a natural leader - fearless, inquisitive, humble, honest. Thank you.
I am related by marriage to a Turkish journalist who retweeted something at the start of covid that was mildly critical of Erdogan. He was arrested, spent a month in prison, then released.
Have we become that different from an authoritarian dictator state?
Bari, from one of your subscribers that virtually never comments but reads everything you write, all I can say is AMEN!
This essay is right up there with your resignation letter, which turned me on to you in the first place. You just nailed it. Thank you for what you are doing. Please keep it up. You are making a difference.
When I taught in the English department at a university I had a cartoon on my bulletin board of two women in a bookstore, one behind a desk explaining: "This is a feminist bookstore. There is no humor section." Guess good thing I had tenure.
I, too, found the joke amusing.
Sure, it’s misogynistic, and misogyny, boys and girls, is bad! I wholeheartedly agree! But humor exists as a safety valve or maybe the better metaphor is a meat grinder. You pass those violent, sexist, unacceptable thoughts through the grinder, and they come out as something shredded and harmless.
Or, at least, that’s how it seems to me.
Of course, what do I know?
PS: I am very glad you publish this Substack, Bari. I think yesterday's guest editorial about why the Depp/Heard slagfest verdict is the Big Bad was the very first time I have ever disagreed with anything you've printed.
I don’t know why every profession needs to be conflated with activism now. Journalism, acting, diaper making.
I work with psychotherapists and I can definitely see this trend even there. A profession that needs to extend help to anyone and yet…
Activism has no room for sense of humor it seems.
I'm the first to admit I unsubscribed to the NYT and the Chicago Tribune. The only things I subscribe to are substack authors like you, The Daily Wire and the WSJ. As a former journalism major your analysis of the current state of the media is spot on. Short on trust for sure has transformed national media.
Let's face it. We are a nation of tattle tales. As a child, if I "ratted out" my cousins, my parents would chide me rather than them. "No one likes a tattle tale," my dad would say. I could feel my face turn red and the shame was far worse than the shove my cousin gave me that knocked me to the ground. My father's lesson in ethics sunk in.
The age of the wisecrack is over; it is equated to a minstrel show in the eyes of the young and the woke. Watch an episode of Seinfeld and count how many truly hilarious moments would be viewed as sexist, racist, etc. by today's standards.
Thank you, Bari for starting Common Sense. I don't always like or agree with the essays published but I thank God they are being published.
How do writers pitch you/your team?
I’m a big fan of the work you’re doing - as someone who lives in bright red West TX but has written OpEds a few times for legacy publications offering more nuanced takes on the culture here, I get how hard it is to cross the finish line w a piece that doesn’t ideologically reflect the progressive worldview. They want “diverse perspectives” until the perspective is diverse.
Bari I’ve been following you since I read your resignation letter from the NY Times. As a British person who follows US politics, culture and civic life quite closely I have found Common Sense, Honestly and TGIF to be absolutely unmissable. Thank you for building this space for real people to have real conversations about real things that matter. Mazeltov!
Bari, love what you’re doing here and happy to support it.
Weigel’s mistake was apologizing for his joke. Not his problem that some found it unfunny or even offensive; that’s the nature of humor. Allowing the Progressive Mob to demand consequences for every joke they dislike is precisely how we got to the point where actual, physical violence is now being committed against comedians on stage... with some on the Left even defending it. Stop apologizing; it will never be enough.
If you had told this life-long politically conservative corporate lawyer 10 years ago that he would be thirsty to read Matt Taibbi and Bari Weiss for good, honest, thought-provoking writing that is hard to find anywhere else, I would have thought you bonkers. I don't agree with all the folks who are featured here but my gosh it's good to read different perspectives from writers who are intellectually honest.