Is the NYT’s Cade Metz a Secret Scott Alexander Fan?
14th February 2021
Scott Alexander responds to the NYT’s hit piece about him:
I believe they misrepresented me as retaliation for my publicly objecting to their policy of doxxing bloggers in a way that threatens their livelihood and safety.
Beyond that, the NYT’s bigger goal is to advance the current crackdown on independent thought. Scott Alexander and Mencius Moldbug have little in common, but neither is Woke, which is, increasingly, the only worldview that The Establishment will tolerate. So, they are both therefore crimethinkers and must be dealt with, along with anybody who likes one or the other, or who likes anybody who likes one of them. Guilt by Association is very much back in fashion in 2021.
That said, I’d also imagine that NYT reporter Cade Metz is a fan of Scott’s, so he probably wrote his hit piece in part to shore up his career at the NYT. As an intelligent white man, Metz is in danger of being canceled like Donald McNeil, a 45-year veteran of the NYT newsroom who was in recent years their expert on epidemics. McNeil’s career was canceled recently for his lack of worship of woke dogmas. So Metz throwing Scott off the back of the sleigh to distract the pursuing racist wolves (such as Nikole Hannah-Jones and John Eligon) from gaining on him would be a rational career move.
Statement on New York Times Article (Scott Alexander)
Who is Scott Alexander and what is he about?
A little while ago a friend asked me to make a list of my favorite pieces of his. So, here is a beginner’s guide to the writings of Scott Alexander.
A grand anticlimax: the New York Times on Scott Alexander
Last night, it occurred to me that despite how disjointed it feels, the New York Times piece does have a central thesis: namely, that rationalism is a “gateway drug” to dangerous beliefs. And that thesis is 100% correct—insofar as once you teach people that they can think for themselves about issues of consequence, some of them might think bad things. It’s just that many of us judge the benefit worth the risk!
Scott Alexander, Philosopher King of the Weird People (Quilette)