This is Brad DeLong's Grasping Reality—my attempt to make myself, and all of you out there in SubStackLand, smarter by writing where I have Value Above Replacement and shutting up where I do not… The "1984" Theory of Bari WeissIf someone keeps advancing despite demonstrable incompetence at public‑reason journalism, perhaps they are doing a different job than advancing public reason—effectively, and deliberately…
If someone keeps advancing despite demonstrable incompetence at public‑reason journalism, perhaps they are doing a different job than advancing public reason—effectively, and deliberately…
Dan Drezner says that Bari Weiss’s claims, and her allies claims, that she had valid editorial objections to the “60 Minutes” El Salvadorian GULAG Trumpist deportations story are horseshit:
He notes the possibility that it was a political decision, writing “at worst she’s ham-handedly trying to help appease Trump in the interest of promoting her boss’ business empire”. Because:
But then he backs off, a bit. And so Drezner concludes:
But I have a different view: Suppose that people do succeed, even though you think they are not good at doing their job. What should your response be? Perhaps the right response is one of Bayesian humility, of stepping back and asking what the job that they are doing really is. Quite probably it is a different job entirely. And perhaps they are doing it well. What is the job? In my view, much of our discussion of what is going on with respect to the sphere of public reason these days would be improved if people had 1984 on their bedside table, and committed themselves to read daily from it:
What happens if we combine a sensitivity to Nineteen Eighty-Four with Bari Weiss’s actions and the maxim that “the purpose of a system is what it does”? Then we are led to this conclusion: Stop asking whether Weiss is good at journalism. She is good at the job she’s actually doing: performing submission to power and recruiting others to the ritual. In today’s media oligopoly, that job pays. The big tell is her “I am eager and available to help. I tracked down cell numbers for Homan and Miller and sent those along. Please let me know how I can support you…” As if she does not know that the “60 Minutes” staff has a bigger contacts rolodex database than she does. Let me explain my thinking:... Continue reading this post for free in the Substack app
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The "1984" Theory of Bari Weiss
Wednesday, 24 December 2025
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