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I think giving a platform to someone who is a sitting US Senator, who has an argument supported by the majority of Americans, in the supposed Newspaper of Recor

I think giving a platform to someone who is a sitting US Senator, who has an argument supported by the majority of Americans, in the supposed Newspaper of Record, isn't the craziest thing ever decided and should not have led to the editor's firing.

minikites 6y ago
Why the appeal to authority? There are plenty of senators who don't believe in evolution and other basic principles of science. Publishing an anti-science op-ed from any of them would be just as harmful as Tom Cotton's incitement to violence.
- seibelj 6y ago
  The rioters were already burning buildings and looting stores. That is why Tom Cotton proposed sending in the military. It was fighting violence with violence. Again, I disagree with sending in the military, but preventing the progressive readership of the NYT from hearing about an opinion that 58% of Americans hold is simply coddling them and keeping them away from bad thoughts. We need an informed citizenry, not one that is afraid of ideas. This is why I support publishing such an op-ed despite disagreeing with it. It allows us to debate and attack the idea, without letting it fester and hide. Bad ideas should be argued against this way, not de-platformed entirely.
  - joshuamorton 6y ago
    Then cover it as news. "Tom Cotton supports sending military troops to suppress peaceful protests" is a headline.
    - asdf21 6y ago
      Burning down buildings and looting is "peaceful" to you? How about spreading Covid during a lockdown? Is that peaceful as well? Take a moment and watch this video, out of Novato... https://streamable.com/58kma9 https://streamable.com/58kma9 These are senior citizens, in a 85% liberal area, who are trying to support local business during a pandemic, and they potentially just contracted Covid which could easily kill them, for what?
  - minikites 6y ago
    >This is why I support publishing such an op-ed despite disagreeing with it. It allows us to debate and attack the idea, without letting it fester and hide. Bad ideas should be argued against this way, not de-platformed entirely. If you're so certain the ideas would be defeated then why not hand out copies of the Turner Diaries to every citizen? Why is racism still around when a true marketplace of ideas would have defeated it centuries ago? Propaganda doesn't fit into your naive model of how ideas spread and function.
    - seibelj 6y ago
      Again, it was an opinion held by 58% of America (using military to quell looting and property destruction), by a US Senator. Op-eds are the opinion of the writer - that's why they are in the Opinion page. You are acting like Tom Cotton was advocating for some extreme far-right minority view held by only a tiny fraction of insane people, rather than the majority opinion.
      - minikites 6y ago
        So an idea is automatically moral if a majority of people approve of it?
        areeh 6y ago
        Why the "so"? I did not see an implication in his argument that it is automatically moral
- leetcrew 6y ago
  I don't think this is an appeal to authority. if a sitting US senator says something about an event that's already a national news story, isn't that newsworthy?
nickthegreek 6y ago
I thought the Editor who was fired never read the op-ed he rubber stamped. That to me, is the fireable offense, not the posting of it.

minikites 6y ago

Why the appeal to authority? There are plenty of senators who don't believe in evolution and other basic principles of science. Publishing an anti-science op-ed from any of them would be just as harmful as Tom Cotton's incitement to violence.

seibelj 6y ago
The rioters were already burning buildings and looting stores. That is why Tom Cotton proposed sending in the military. It was fighting violence with violence. Again, I disagree with sending in the military, but preventing the progressive readership of the NYT from hearing about an opinion that 58% of Americans hold is simply coddling them and keeping them away from bad thoughts. We need an informed citizenry, not one that is afraid of ideas. This is why I support publishing such an op-ed despite disagreeing with it. It allows us to debate and attack the idea, without letting it fester and hide. Bad ideas should be argued against this way, not de-platformed entirely.
- joshuamorton 6y ago
  Then cover it as news. "Tom Cotton supports sending military troops to suppress peaceful protests" is a headline.
  - asdf21 6y ago
    Burning down buildings and looting is "peaceful" to you? How about spreading Covid during a lockdown? Is that peaceful as well? Take a moment and watch this video, out of Novato... https://streamable.com/58kma9 https://streamable.com/58kma9 These are senior citizens, in a 85% liberal area, who are trying to support local business during a pandemic, and they potentially just contracted Covid which could easily kill them, for what?
- minikites 6y ago
  >This is why I support publishing such an op-ed despite disagreeing with it. It allows us to debate and attack the idea, without letting it fester and hide. Bad ideas should be argued against this way, not de-platformed entirely. If you're so certain the ideas would be defeated then why not hand out copies of the Turner Diaries to every citizen? Why is racism still around when a true marketplace of ideas would have defeated it centuries ago? Propaganda doesn't fit into your naive model of how ideas spread and function.
  - seibelj 6y ago
    Again, it was an opinion held by 58% of America (using military to quell looting and property destruction), by a US Senator. Op-eds are the opinion of the writer - that's why they are in the Opinion page. You are acting like Tom Cotton was advocating for some extreme far-right minority view held by only a tiny fraction of insane people, rather than the majority opinion.
    - minikites 6y ago
      So an idea is automatically moral if a majority of people approve of it?
      - areeh 6y ago
        Why the "so"? I did not see an implication in his argument that it is automatically moral
leetcrew 6y ago
I don't think this is an appeal to authority. if a sitting US senator says something about an event that's already a national news story, isn't that newsworthy?

nickthegreek 6y ago

I thought the Editor who was fired never read the op-ed he rubber stamped. That to me, is the fireable offense, not the posting of it.