From what I'm gathering, the quote she attributes to Kirk appears to not be a statement he made. I'm not able to find a source for that quote anywhere, but I'm also not about to go watch/listen to everything Kirk ever said in case it was never transcribed anywhere. If it is true that Kirk never said that, I would say that definitely compromises the trust in her as a journalist.
And I'm saying this as someone who is on the "political left" by US standards, though more centrist by broader western standards.
muddi900 · 3h ago
There is nothing uncharacteristic about statement. This is something similar he said about black people.
The benefit of the doubt should go to the author. Why are we pretending that he was not this?
orionsbelt · 3h ago
His point is not that black people are less capable but that DEI policies causing looser standards causes people to question whether a particular black person they encounter in a role is sufficiently qualified given those well known looser standards, and that this is bad for everyone, black people included. You can argue he’s still wrong, but it’s quite clear from the various clips that this is what he is arguing. In another clip, for example, he cited United’s goal of having 50% of pilots being of color or women, as compared to 13% of the population being black and women having less of an interest in careers like being a pilot; ie he has no prejudice against black peoples capabilities but has an issue with lowering hiring standards for any group of people.
a_shovel · 2h ago
> His point is not that black people are less capable but that DEI policies [cause] looser standards
These ideas are equivalent. The belief that employers are lowering their standards in order to include more black people is based on the idea that any additional black person hired must necessarily be less competent than a hypothetical white person who could have been hired instead of them; that is, white supremacy. In Kirk's words: "You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously."
They don't believe that there are black people who are qualified but weren't hired because of, for example, discrimination, because they don't believe "discrimination" exists per se, they just think of not hiring black people as logical meritocratic decision-making.
anthony_d · 2h ago
> > His point is not that black people are less capable but that DEI policies [cause] looser standards
> These ideas are equivalent…
You’re grossly failing at basic logic here. One case is describing racism and one being racist. Those things are not the same.
> They don't believe that there are black people who are qualified…
Again, you’re failing at basic reading comprehension but now it looks intentional.
muddi900 · 1h ago
Or maybe you are twisting yourself to avoid the text as it is.
muddi900 · 3h ago
Except none of these are based on fact. All of this has been addressed elsewhere.
DEI is Critical Race Theory is Affirmative Action.
It is yet another in a long line of politically correct terms used by the American Right to counch their racism. Charlie Kirk's commentary is no different than Rish Limbaugh.
orionsbelt · 2h ago
I am not going to argue that many members of the "American Right" are not racist. Many of them are openly and disgustingly so. But we are talking about half the country, and a group that has as many in-group differences as the left.
I am not an expert in Charlie Kirk (I barely knew anything about him a week ago), but from the many many clips I have seen of him since, he seems to me to genuinely not be racist.
It's not worth debating whether DEI and affirmative action are problematic are not. We probably disagree, and this is a waste of both of our time. But in terms of this story, the simple fact is a journalist should not be misquoting someone. If one thinks he's racist by subtext, one can try to argue that, but at least be honest about what he's literally saying.
muddi900 · 1h ago
I don't think I was arguing for the merits of a quota system. I believe they are not effective. But that was not my point. It is irrelevant what facade is being used. It is just window-dressing for something despicable.
That was my point.
aredox · 2h ago
He can you find him not racist, when he is clearly so, and antisemitic, and generally xenophobic all around?
Kirk controlled most of his communication but the mask falls when he is around people on his "side" (podcasts or events).
IAmBroom · 3h ago
Why should any side get the benefit of the doubt?
muddi900 · 3h ago
In any given conflict, there would be doubt. And one side will have the advantage due to it. Like in sports tv umpiring. Whenever the image is not clear as to what the decision should be, the rules have a carve out on which side whould get the benefit of benefit of that doubt. Otherwise the game will be stuck.
In life, where certainty is much more rare, it is a good rule of thumb to handle doubts this way. By OP's own admission, they can't watch every hour and minute of Charlie Kirk's speeches, interviews, and TV appearances. But he has a clear pattern of making remarks such as this.
Why would you believe that he did not make that statement? Objectivity does not require anyone be neutral for no reason. It is reasonable to assume that the author is correct.
orionsbelt · 3h ago
It’s a misquote - in quotation marks! - for which the full video is available and shows it is a misquote.
muddi900 · 1h ago
But has the meaning changed?
lucyjojo · 3h ago
logical consistency?
yakz · 3h ago
It's not an exact quote, but it was on The Charlie Kirk Show, on July 13th 2023. The video is still available, it's around 53:45 in.
hackeraccount · 3h ago
Embarrassingly, I've read the details on the quote. The short version is that Kirk said something about several individuals which was changed in the "quote" to be about a group.
The paraphrase would be if I said, my co-works Bob and John were congenital idiots and I was quoted as saying "All Unix Administrators are congenital idiots"
Should she get fired for that kind of thing? Easily yes if she did it in a work product.
If she did it for something outside of work? I have no idea. Probably not but nominally she was doing straight news for the Washington Post. The deeper problem is the no one goes into Journalism to do straight news reporting but everyone at least starts off doing that and for most that's all they ever do - but everyone wants the dream; getting paid to tell other people what they think is right and wrong with the world. The only way to get that dream job is to start off doing it for free but it's not hard to see how that might conflict with your day job if your day job is straight news reporting.
I am hoping ex-WaPo writers can start a new publication and push WaPo down in value. This happened to the local Nyc blog during Trump’s first term. Wnyc was not supporting the writers if Gothamist so the staff up and left and started Hellgate.nyc with a different take on modern journalism. It has been a big win for those writers and local coverage.
We really need to replace these corrupted institutions and at least boost our freedom of choice back up. Nothing needs to be a complete mega-hit 1:1 replacement in the world of news IMO.
techpineapple · 4h ago
One question I have about politics and history, is does politics tend to follow short term events or long term trends. If politics tends to follow short term events then one might tend to assume that a swap of attitude from cancel culture on then left to cancel culture on the right would face immediate backlash, since a sense of cultural overreach and extremism was given as an explanation for Trump, that Trump was a moderating force in society.
I tend to think that long-term trends tends to be a better explanatory factor. There was this interview with this divorce lawyer that really helped shape my view on where we were as a society which basically said we’re in a place with too much post-modernism. The idea of how we imagine the world is just too flexible, there’s too much “freedom” and we’re on a trend back towards a more concrete view of the world. I tend to think this is correct, and that if there is backlash to Trump, or the public and popular notion of conservatism, we’re still, broadly speaking influenced by a group of folks who are ready for a more concrete or “conservative” popular culture. Gender roles, Right and wrong.
But I also think the trend sort of definitionally is already moving back in the other direction, it will just take ~ 10 years to play out as those in their formative years grow into a more liberal mindset(it’s probably just sort of barely impacting a few months of the psyche of the youngest pre-teens now and as that cohort ages they’ll influence the culture back in the other direction)
techpineapple · 4h ago
I do wonder though how much freedom plays into this dynamic. Are young North Koreans “liberal” as much as they’re allowed to be, or does a stranglehold on cultural influences somehow squash organic contrarianism.
And I'm saying this as someone who is on the "political left" by US standards, though more centrist by broader western standards.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1ZPr6KwnzA/
The benefit of the doubt should go to the author. Why are we pretending that he was not this?
These ideas are equivalent. The belief that employers are lowering their standards in order to include more black people is based on the idea that any additional black person hired must necessarily be less competent than a hypothetical white person who could have been hired instead of them; that is, white supremacy. In Kirk's words: "You had to go steal a white person's slot to go be taken somewhat seriously."
They don't believe that there are black people who are qualified but weren't hired because of, for example, discrimination, because they don't believe "discrimination" exists per se, they just think of not hiring black people as logical meritocratic decision-making.
You’re grossly failing at basic logic here. One case is describing racism and one being racist. Those things are not the same.
> They don't believe that there are black people who are qualified…
Again, you’re failing at basic reading comprehension but now it looks intentional.
It is yet another in a long line of politically correct terms used by the American Right to counch their racism. Charlie Kirk's commentary is no different than Rish Limbaugh.
I am not an expert in Charlie Kirk (I barely knew anything about him a week ago), but from the many many clips I have seen of him since, he seems to me to genuinely not be racist.
It's not worth debating whether DEI and affirmative action are problematic are not. We probably disagree, and this is a waste of both of our time. But in terms of this story, the simple fact is a journalist should not be misquoting someone. If one thinks he's racist by subtext, one can try to argue that, but at least be honest about what he's literally saying.
That was my point.
Kirk controlled most of his communication but the mask falls when he is around people on his "side" (podcasts or events).
In life, where certainty is much more rare, it is a good rule of thumb to handle doubts this way. By OP's own admission, they can't watch every hour and minute of Charlie Kirk's speeches, interviews, and TV appearances. But he has a clear pattern of making remarks such as this.
Why would you believe that he did not make that statement? Objectivity does not require anyone be neutral for no reason. It is reasonable to assume that the author is correct.
The paraphrase would be if I said, my co-works Bob and John were congenital idiots and I was quoted as saying "All Unix Administrators are congenital idiots"
Should she get fired for that kind of thing? Easily yes if she did it in a work product.
If she did it for something outside of work? I have no idea. Probably not but nominally she was doing straight news for the Washington Post. The deeper problem is the no one goes into Journalism to do straight news reporting but everyone at least starts off doing that and for most that's all they ever do - but everyone wants the dream; getting paid to tell other people what they think is right and wrong with the world. The only way to get that dream job is to start off doing it for free but it's not hard to see how that might conflict with your day job if your day job is straight news reporting.
We really need to replace these corrupted institutions and at least boost our freedom of choice back up. Nothing needs to be a complete mega-hit 1:1 replacement in the world of news IMO.
I tend to think that long-term trends tends to be a better explanatory factor. There was this interview with this divorce lawyer that really helped shape my view on where we were as a society which basically said we’re in a place with too much post-modernism. The idea of how we imagine the world is just too flexible, there’s too much “freedom” and we’re on a trend back towards a more concrete view of the world. I tend to think this is correct, and that if there is backlash to Trump, or the public and popular notion of conservatism, we’re still, broadly speaking influenced by a group of folks who are ready for a more concrete or “conservative” popular culture. Gender roles, Right and wrong.
But I also think the trend sort of definitionally is already moving back in the other direction, it will just take ~ 10 years to play out as those in their formative years grow into a more liberal mindset(it’s probably just sort of barely impacting a few months of the psyche of the youngest pre-teens now and as that cohort ages they’ll influence the culture back in the other direction)