This is the best alternative take to my “it’s a hostage note” take from the other day. I’ve heard this from a few smart people now — that NYT is trying to veer back center to avoid electoral doom. We’ll know if/when they start firing wokes & hiring non/anti-wokes.

All the wokes there work for a rich old money family, but they’re permitted by the owners & the rest of the media ecosystem to LARP as brave, oppressed warriors against the status quo. It could well be that the owners are now ready stop indulging this & to re-assert control.

If it really is the case that the owners of capital are done with enabling grievance entrepreneurs & anti-capitalist theatrics and are ready to start firing people, I expect the wokes will discover a new love of free speech & will flip to crypto.

This pivot would not be a problem for them because consistency & integrity are not valued — only power. If free speech & crypto do get a moment as the #CurrentThing, we’ll see how many folks in my camp are here for the ideas vs here for the culture war.

I want to be clear that I’m of the @wesyang school of thought on this & I still think this is a hostage note. The reason is that the universities are captured & will not continue to supply them with cultural capital that they can convert to financial capital. They’re screwed.