NPR recently had to carry through on a long-announced series of layoffs due to a significant drop in revenue. The result was apparently a tense meeting with executives, according to Bloomberg, including accusations that the liberal outlet was racist and anti-trans in its selection of employees for termination. What was most interesting about the account were objections to “tone policing” and the claim that “civility is a weapon wielded by the powerful.” We have strived since the formation of this blog to encourage civility as a core value for our community. We have not been entirely successful, though I appreciate that the blog is better than most in the tenor of its commentary. It was, therefore interesting to see people in the media objecting to civility as a form of control by the powerful.
I have criticized NPR for its false reporting on issues like Hunter Biden, the whipping scandal at the border and other stories. NPR declared recently that it would allow employees to participate in political protests when the editors believe the causes advance the “freedom and dignity of human beings.”
The laying off of 84 people created a firestorm and allegations that NPR failed to guarantee that people of color and trans people were not subject to greater terminations.
During the zoom call, CEO John Lansing objected to a black employee who was criticizing executives by name. Lancing said
“I would never, ever, on your worst day, call you out by name in a meeting with 827 people,” he said. “Let’s please keep in mind nobody is happy about this. Nobody is more unhappy about it than those affected, but certainly everybody in the company, beginning with me, this is the last thing we wanted to do.”
Some employees interpreted this as tone-policing and felt uncomfortable.
Lansing was denounced as “racist” and another staff member dropped a link to a segment from NPR’s Code Switch titled, “When Civility Is Used As A Cudgel Against People Of Color.” Still another wrote “Civility is a weapon wielded by the powerful.”
The referenced segment is based on the work of “Gaye Theresa Johnson, who studies the intersection of civility and race at the University of California, Los Angeles.” She explained that civility policing “allowed white citizens to, in effect, civilize people they considered less than.” It also featured the work of Rutgers professor Brittney Cooper who writes “about white reaction to black anger in her book Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers Her Superpower.” Cooper insists that civility standards simply constitute “preaching at black people about how they’re bad and how they’re ungrateful for being angry.” In citing historical protests, the segment erases any distinction between advocacy and civility.
One could simply shrug this off as just desserts for an outlet that embraces “advocacy journalism,” and often fuels identity politics. However, it is a sad example of how even civility is now being denounced as a tool of repression in our age of rage.
That is why I recently wrote about the outburst of Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., who screamed about gun control in the Capitol as colleagues left after a vote. Various Democratic members, including former House Majority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md, tried to calm Bowman. However, after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky, asked him to stop yelling, Bowman shouted “I was screaming before you interrupted me,” which could now go down as the epitaph for our age.
God does not love loud tones except of someone who is Oppressed —Muhammad of Arabia as Quoted in his book The Quran, Chapter 6 Verse 1
Jonathan: In a Tweet yesterday you said: “There is a legitimate story in the Soros funding far-left prosecutors who have implemented controversial reforms of criminal justice”. What is the “legitimate story” you think deserves attention and what are the “left-wing” reforms Soros is “funding”?
From the moment DA Alvin Bragg renewed his criminal investigation of Donald Trump the antisemitic crowd has raised the cry about “Soros backed Bragg”, the “Soros DA”. It has come from Trump, Ron DeSantis and FOX News–and now you. The false claim is that Soros, a Hungarian American Holocaust survivor, is funding “left-wing” political and DA candidates–acting as a puppet master behind the scenes to manipulate elections and DAs. What are the facts?
Soros is no different than the Koch Bros. The Koch Foundation funds right-wing causes and conservative political candidates. Soros does the liberal equivalent. His Democracy PAC supports candidates for public office–and DAs that support his criminal justice reforms–like treating drug addiction as a disease, not a crime, and reducing the inequities in prison sentencing. Soros’ reforms are not, as you say, particularly “controversial”. Unless, you are a right-wing conservative. And Soros did not contribute directly to Bragg–although his son and daughter-in-law did. Soros gives money to organization that share his goals of criminal justice reforms–and they in turn have contributed directly to Bragg. No big surprise. Soros does not know Bragg personally. They have never met. But it’s safe to say Soros supports Bragg’s criminal justice reforms–and probably doesn’t like Trump. So what?
Your Tweet is a slippery slope–a dangerous game that plays into the stereotypes of rich Jewish financiers secretly controlling events. As the ADL warns: “A person who promotes a Soros conspiracy theory may not intend to promote antisemitism. But Soros’ Jewish identity is so well-known that in many cases it is hard not to infer that meaning”. So how are we to treat your Tweet? Nothing more than another “dog whistle” attack that plays into rampant antisemitic hysteria we hear from the Trump crowd.
Karma!
You have to master civility before you’ll be entrusted with much power (outside of the household). So, those in positions of power have well-developed skills of civility, and their challenge then is to be as direct and candid as civility permits. Those who feel powerless?….work on your leadership skills….listening, empathizing, negotiating, collaborative goal-setting & problem-solving.
If you worked at NPR, especially as a younger employee, you might not be learning the right combo of communication skills — NPR work-culture seems beset of groupthink and conformity. Those who got laid off are getting a big opportunity to grow professionally — though only the positivists will see it that way.
Those whose identities were coddled at NPR and feel “entitled” to lifelong employment there — work someplace where you’re respected for what you do (not “who you are” or “who you look like”).
“So, those in positions of power have well-developed skills of civility”
Some, also, have well-developed skills of incivility. Some have mastered the fine art of subtle bullying.
Politics is a nasty game.
““So, those in positions of power have well-developed skills of civility””
I see far too much coercion, manipulation, and the like papered over with a thing veneer of civility. Lies get spoken through smiles.
“civility as a form of control by the powerful”
Why not? Anything is fair game for some of those who wish to exert power over others.Manipulative people will twist anything they can to suit their ends. 🙁
But, I feel like this is just one more thing to break down trust.
Be decent to one another. Apologize when you mess up.
‘Civility’ is nonsense. It is pressed into service only when a speaker is deluded enough to think that no one realizes that what is meant is “shut up.”
Welcome, NPR executives, to the vile, hysterical incivility from which have fled the best of those who aspired to careers as police officers and school teachers.
From Professor Turley on Twitter. “There is a legitimate story in the Soros funding far-left prosecutors who have implemented controversial reforms of criminal justice. Yet, the PBS correspondent and CNN analyst would bar such discussion as virtual hate speech as an antisemitic “dog-whistle attack”. It must then follow that if you criticize Benjamin Netanyahu you must be anti-Semetic. The leftist are just far out in left field defending their cash cow. The major thing that is missing is that they won’t admit that Soros has funded easy on crime prosecutors. After all, your cash cow may have beed kicked in the head by another cow but she’s still putting out the milk every day and you need those tits to suck even if they are covered with manure.
From Wikipedia on NPR funding. Funding comes from dues and fees paid by member stations, underwriting from corporate sponsors and annual grants from the publicly-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Most of its member stations are owned by non-profit organizations, including public school districts, colleges, and universities. Please note that NPR is funded by you the tax payer. What they leave out is that they are really just a branch of MSNBC funded by your tax dollar. Just listen to MSNBC (if you can) and within a matter of hours you will be seeing the same talking points on NPR. I find it quite laughable that those who stood in the breach for the LGBTQ++++++ and the BLM communities are now themselves being accused of transphobia and racism. I find one statement very instructional. “ What ya gonna do when they come for you.” There must be many donors who have informed NPR that their donations will not be forthcoming this year. The chickens have found a better roosting hutch because the one they’ve been in has never been cleaned up and chicken poop is in the chicken feed. Even the chickens won’t come home to roost. My comments should not be misconstrued as being a few words in condolence of NPR’s falling on its self inflicted hard times.
Jonathan: It’s nice to see you restating your “Civility” rule for this blog. But you admit “we have not been entirely successful,…” That’s an understatement. I can attest that “civility” is often observed more in the breech than in the observance on this blog. But, hey, I can’t really complain. I have chosen to be one of the few voices of sanity in a sea of conspiracy theories and other non-sensical opinions. That said, as I often do on the weekends, let me review some other important news you missed this week.
–Obviously, at the top of the news this week was the decision of the Manhattan grand jury to charge Trump with crimes–the first time this has happened to a former president. He will appear in a Manhattan court room on Tuesday to hear the charges. But I won’t dwell here on that case because it pales in comparison to other more serious criminal charges the Trumpster faces down the road. Like you and Pres. Biden I will restrain myself now so Trump doesn’t get more attention than he deserves.
–The Dominion defamation suit against Fox is going to trial. Rupert Murdock lost his attempt to get the case dismissed this week. Judge Eric Davis said it was “crystal clear” that none of the allegations by Trump’s allies on Fox about the 2020 election were true. So, barring a last minute settlement, the trial will begin in mid-April.
–Elon Musk was all over the news this week. For 6 months Musk has set about dismantling every thing that made Twitter valuable–scaring away advertisers and celebrities, bullying reporters–and rewarding the bad actors, neo-Nazis, anti-semites and conspiracy theorists. To add insult to injury, Musk announced on Monday he was replacing the legacy verification with a pay to play one charging $7.99 per month. The NY Times, WAPO, LA times and other major outlets are refusing tp pay. Big celebrities, like Lebron James, have also balked in announcing his decision to his 5.3 million Twitter followers. Some media pundits think Musk will eventually do a one-eighty on paid verifications–saying it was just an April Fools prank.
To add to his woes Musk’s tunnel boring venture, The Boring Company, is facing criticism from the residents of Bastrap, Texas. Musk wants to dump wastewater from the facility into the local water supply. The residents near the facility have launched a campaign called “Keep Bastrap Boring”. Then there are other Texans not happy with SpaceX. activities in Boca Chica. The local residents have sued claiming the rocket tests have caused public beaches to be continuously closed.
Musk moved some of his businesses from California to Texas thinking he would received a more friendly business environment in the Lone Star state. He thought he could escape the more stringent environmental laws in California. Boca Chica, by the way, means “small mouth”. The residents of Boca Chica are think in of changing the name of their town to “Boca Grande”.
@Dennis McIntyre: Thank you for a brief chuckle this morning. I needed it. “I have chosen to be one of the few voices of sanity in a sea of conspiracy theories and other non-sensical opinions.” Setting aside discussions sanity and reason, You forgot to mention how modest, humble, and unpretentious you are. Those are certainly important qualities to which anyone (of any political persuasion) should aspire, if they wish to remain civil, one to another.
Thank you for choosing to be the “voice of one crying in the wilderness.” It must be an at-times overwhelming burden. Keep up the good work: make Fred Rogers proud!
Hickhead: Nice to know I could get you to chuckle. There are way too many of you on this blog without a sense of humor. I am a pretty modest guy. But I make no pretenses .Look upon me as a sort of “gadfly”. Socrates was a gadfly who posed novel and potentially unsettling questions. He strode around Athens, questioning dogmatic “truths” by throwing a wrench in the logic of many prevailing beliefs. So you can consider me the “Socrates” of this blog. Like I say, I am a modest guy.
When I first got on Turley’s blog I had hoped I would find a community that would actually engage in a discussion of the issues of the day–using facts and rational argument. Instead, I found people like you–who only engages in ridicule and non sequiturs. When you are prepared to discuss the issues raised in my comments I will re-engage.
@Dennis: From chuckle to outright laughter: TYVM!
It’s funny how such an intellectual as you overlooked the “[s]etting aside discussions sanity and reason” part of my post. It’s also funny how you’ve been promoted from John the Baptist to Socrates. Your gadfly-like humility and modesty are truly as staggering as Vizzini’s wit. Indeed a modern remake would be “Never go in against Dennis McIntyre when death is on the line!” At this rate, it wouldn’t do anyone any good to engage with you, as I’m sure you’re next in line for God’s personal advisor and already know what feeble discussions we mere mortal humans can have.
It’s also funny how you find it odd that people do not come to Mr. Turley’s blog to hear what the self-proclaimed Socrates (with all the attendant unassuming manners befitting one of the very few true intellectuals on the entirety of the Internet) is concerned about. I’m always interested in discussing the issues raised by Mr. Turley on *his* blog. If you’d like folks to discuss things of interest to you, perhaps *your own* blog would be a more reasonable outlet for walls of text.
You state that you “have chosen to be one of the few voices of sanity,” are a “pretty modest guy. [who makes] no pretenses, and that you walk in the footsteps of Socrates himself yet find it inconceivable that anyone would point out how haughty, prideful, and egotistic it is for someone to sing their own praises as you do. Of course I’m ridiculing you. What did you expect: genuflection, Oh Great One, for deigning to speak with the illiterate proletariat?
HA HA HA (also: I don’t believe I made any non sequiturs in my OP). No sir, Mr. Rogers would be appalled.
When you are prepared to discuss the issues raised by the blog’s author, I will re-engage
The problem is not his arrogance.
It is his error.
I actually listened to NPR for 3 hours every morning for 5 years! From 2015 to 2020. I was shocked to find very little news; it was all propaganda. Even the big news at the time — Hong Kong riots, Dakota Access Pipeline — got very little coverage. Before Covid, every day had a segment pushing the measles vax. After Covid, it became nonstop, relentless fear mongering and nothing but. NPR is a highly political outfit that should not get ANY tax money!
Congress has the power to tax for ONLY debt, defense and general welfare.
Congress has no power to tax for individual welfare, specific welfare, particular welfare, favor or charity.
Congress has no power to tax for or fund National Public Radio.
National Public Radio is, rather, national welfare (i.e. “free stuff,” public assistance) radio.
National Public Radio cannot be funded by Congress and NPR is a subversive, direct and mortal enemy of the American thesis, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, Americans and America.
The singular American failure has been and continues to be the Supreme Court which must have struck down subversion, unconstitutional taxation and spending long ago.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Article 1, Section 8
The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States;…
They also have the power to get away with whatever they can get away with, which seems to be unlimited. They have become an almost unstoppable force.
The singular American failure has been and remains the Supreme Court, the Justices of which have criminally and treasonously failed to fulfill their sworn-oath duty to support the literal clear and evident meaning and intent of the Constitution. Communism must have been stopped at Lincoln. Only Justice Taney put forth a discernible degree of effort toward doing his duty.
Statistics are difficult to find but, if my math is right, there are 33.3 people listening to NPR at any given second.
That’s that nature of communist (liberal, progressive, socialist, democrat, RINO, AINO) propaganda.
It’s repulsive, particularly to actual Americans.
That’s CNN on steroids!
Thanks for flagging this issue. I doubt any meaningful part of the population – in the general population or in minority sectors – disagrees with your point.
NPR sealed their own fate. Their hard Democratic partisan views came into much sharper focus when they blindly went along with the Hunter Biden “Russian Disinformation” fantasy and the U.S. Border Patrol “horse whipping migrants” narrative. NPR’s laying off 84 employees due to plunging revenue isn’t racially motivated. And the fact that many folks on the Left can’t see that speaks volumes. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
So, according to the woke loonies, blacks and trans people cannot be arrested, jailed, fired, or criticized. They are untouchable. Got it!
After the smoke clears, the only thing that ever matters is: who has the power. You can wave around all the laws, rules and rights, but in the end, only power counts — and that’s an evolutionary imperative. So, to all the liberals who thought they were just making everything equitable, when in reality they were giving away power to the underclasses, I hope you’re happy with the results. You have created a Frankenstein that believes in neither equity, law, justice or “civility.” Having learned the lesson well, it believes only in power.
. . . in reality they were giving away power to the underclasses
Could you explain what this means. Who are the “underclasses”? My understanding is that coastal left-wing elites are arrogating power to themselves, to rule over everyone else. On a broader scale the world elites are doing the same, as for example in the World Economic Forum and its hoped-for “great reset” which would be a dystopia with them in charge.
The corporate-establishment media have rejected both objectivity and civility. They realize they’re at war and so all is fair. The devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That is their objective. They have become demonized.
Conservatives should realize this too instead of trying to fight back with rational arguments. We are in a war for the very existence of western civilization. The war is primarily in the spiritual realms. The sooner we realize this, the sooner western civilization has a chance of surviving.
Argument is insufficient. America needs exorcism.
The double-edged scalpel of DIEversity: diversity (e.g. racism, sexism, ageism), inequity, exclusion.
Too bad Republicans never had the spine to defund this leftist propaganda outlet. I stop donating 20 years ago