Liberal cancel culture hits again

Bari Weiss brought keen intelligence and broadminded liberalism to the editorial pages of The New York Times. So, naturally, she had to go. The right will cackle that this proves how dangerous the left is. They’re not totally wrong, but they need to look in the mirror.

Many Twitter denizens first became aware of former New York Times writer and editor Weiss, who resigned July 14, when she was dragged for tweeting about an ice skater. It was during the Olympics, in February 2018.

Skater Mirai Nagasu became the first female American to land a triple axel at the Olympics. Weiss jauntily retweeted an NBC Sports tweet and added a line from “Hamilton,” the musical, “Immigrants: They get the job done.”

Landmine. Her colleagues at the Times were outraged. It turns out that Nagasu is not an immigrant herself but is the daughter of two immigrants from Japan. When someone responded with “she was born in California,” Weiss tweeted “Yes, yes, I realize. Felt the poetic license was kosher.”

It wasn’t. At least not according to the many indignant Times staffers who aired their dissatisfaction on the paper’s Slack channel. Weiss was labeled a racist for “othering” Nagasu.

To which the only proper response is: Get a grip! Weiss was obviously celebrating Nagasu, cheering her on and taking pride in immigrants’ contributions to America.

Weiss might seem an unlikely target of wrath. She left The Wall Street Journal editorial page in protest of its gradual surrender to Trump.

One of her early pieces for the Times traced the (limp) response of many conservative-leaning think tanks to the Trump phenomenon.

In response to the #MeToo movement, Weiss demonstrated balance and perspective.

Neither a traditional conservative like me, nor a woke activist like Alyssa Milano, she sounded a note of caution. Recognizing that the phrase “believe all women” was empowering, she nonetheless worried about it being abused:

Three years later, when Tara Reade demanded uncritical trust, many feminists found new wisdom in Weiss’ hesitancy.

Weiss’ Twitter feed is characterized by concern for human rights; there are many references to the Uighurs, Hong Kong and other oppressed people.

Weiss will become, for a while, a right-wing pin-up — a symbol of the dangerous cancel culture that Democrats want to impose on the whole nation.

But the right has lost credibility on this. If the left is woke, the right is bespoke; it has become tailored around one person.

Look at conservative publications and search for Trump critics. They are thin on the ground. National Review parted ways with David French and Jonah Goldberg. The Wall Street Journal lost Bret Stephens and Weiss. Fox News staffed up with fulsome Trump enthusiasts but dispensed with George Will’s services.

This narrowing of the American mind is making everyone dumber and nastier. Bari Weiss stands for dispassionate analysis in a world that increasingly favors zealotry and intolerance. That’s why her fate matters.