My job would be a lot easier if, rather than critiquing people I disagree w/ based on their words and actual views, I employed guilt-by-association headlines and wildly uncharitable, speculative assertions about what secretly drives them psychologically vox.com/the-big-idea/2…
These deeply perilous modes are almost never allowed when the subject is an in-group. And they make fair-minded, nonideological observers familiar with the underlying work lose faith in all journalism.
It is akin to the early aughts ring-wing pundits who insisted leftists only opposed the Iraq War because deep down they hate America, in that it also renders those who believe it less able to understand reality
And it drives me crazy because it makes the job of every scrupulously fair-minded journalist *much harder*
One last thing: it is very odd to frame an article around the conceit that Jordan Peterson or Sam Harris has *lost status* over the last number of years, as they’ve gotten rich, famous, and wildly influential.
