- reverse pyromania
- Posts
- Freedom Tastes of Reality
Bezos posted this on Twitter today:
I shared this note with the Washington Post team this morning:
I’m writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages.
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We’ll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader’s doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.
I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America’s success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.
I offered David Shipley, whom I greatly admire, the opportunity to lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that if the answer wasn’t “hell yes,” then it had to be “no.” After careful consideration, David decided to step away. This is a significant shift, it won’t be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision. We’ll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction.
I’m confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I’m excited for us together to fill that void.
Jeff
Next announcement: Megan McArdle is the new editorial page editor, probably.
The billionaires’ response to Trump’s election is like a teenager smoking their first joint and realizing that they don’t really have to listen to mom and dad all the time. The strictures of pretending they had any decency, or that their philanthropy was anything but something they felt they had to do to in order to go to the right parties, or that perhaps they should pay even a smidge of taxes, were apparently a bit too much for them. Now, they don’t have to pretend anymore, and the sense of liberation is palpable.
I guess Bezos has a tiny bit of a glimmer of an inkling that perhaps he should be eaten instead of celebrated, so maybe that’s why he’s turning his editorial page into what sounds like a John Birch Society newsletter circa 1963: he wants an Amen chorus. Or maybe he was just sick of his buddies bitching about what Philip Bump wrote in his column. One thing is for damn sure — he doesn’t get how pissed people are at him and people like him.
Reply