Hi Bari, I thought you might be interested in a developing story in Canada that has more than a whiff of systemic anti-semitism. The CBC(aka CBC/Radio Canada) the country's publicly funded government-owned broadcaster, started a whisper campaign insinuating the "dual loyalties" canard against Vivian Bercovici, who was Canada's ambassador to the State of Israel under the previous, Conservative, Harper administration, and who is Jewish. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vivian-bercovici-israel-embassy-ambassador-1.5964168. Not content to leave this be, the CBC followed up with another story, which gratuitously added a photo of Canada's Senator Linda Frum standing next to an Israeli flag. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vivian-bercovici-black-cube-1.6034555 She is also Jewish, and sister of David Frum.
Senator Frum is an extraordinary personality, and a key influence if the previous Conservative government led by Stephen Harper, and as such not one to take this without response, and today respond she did, with a statement to her Senate colleagues which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8qZj1jGps&t=7s
Bari, please as a member of FAIR and from this important platform you have built here, consider exposing this to the American and Canadian public. This is a shameful episode of truly systemic prejudice and discrimination against people who have incontrovertibly been victimized in this way.
I am a recent subscriber.Thank you for these ten principles. I abhor the divisiveness of segregating people based on skin color or other such characteristics. I grew up believing that was wrong. I grew up believing in civility, that robust debate and disagreement was to be expected and not the occasion to cancel someone. I have always had as my heroes Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln , Winston Churchill, FDR, Golda Meir, John Adams and a few others. None was perfect but they each displayed courage , conviction, intelligence and concern for people. I now discover to my dismay that all of western civilization is evil and must be totally replaced. It is very disheartening for me . I was a member of the Board of a charter school network but felt obliged to resign when it adopted white supremacy training which was designed to tell Black kids that an emphasis on writing was one of many indicia of white supremacy. I believe that this is factually wrong and condescending to those children. I am very pleased to discover your Common Sense and look forward to reading more.
Bari, thank you for sharing your gifted writing and sensible voice. Your interview with Rabbi Cosgrove was genius; your message is so simple and so clear. Thank you for being such a proud and courageous Jewish woman.
I think part of America’s Issue is that what happened hundreds of years ago are being taken out of context, so that there’s no surrounding info on which to make a ‘genuine’ decision as to good bad or in between. This is very common in politics, no matter the side.
Where we reside on the pendulum’s movement only History will reveal. Your mention of Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn in an early commentary magnifies our dilemma. If people do not care to read the books and stories or listen to the tales, they will never understand the depths of our collective paths. The depth of the past is part of our present and future.
If mobs burn the books and destroy the monuments, they cannot destroy the depths of our collective understand/souls. Carl Jung had his moments. A searing analysis of all opinion/dogma/propaganda based on one’s value system is critically important and must be an essential part of one’s existence.
It is extremely painful to read and listen to the other sides everyday but knowledge and understanding only comes from viewing the opaque light and critically weighing it through your understanding of your life’s goals and dreams .
You present a value system worthy of emulation and continued development. You and Andrew Sullivan have walked on coals, as have others at other news media .
I am going to push back on this column. In a future post, you write:
"The bottom line here is that intent matters. It doesn’t just matter a little bit: our entire culture, our entire justice system hinges on it.
There is a difference between saying something false and lying. There is a difference between hurling the n-word and quoting “Huckleberry Finn.” There is a “difference between murder and manslaughter,”
I fully agree. In this post here you write:
"Do not nod along when you hear the following: That Abraham Lincoln’s name on a public school or his likeness on a statue is white supremacy. (It is not; he is a hero.) That separating people into racial affinity groups is progressive. (It is a form of segregation.) That looting has no victims (untrue) and that small-business owners can cope anyway because they have insurance (nonsense). That any disparity of outcome is evidence of systemic oppression (false). That America is evil. (It is the last hope on Earth.)
This list could go on for a thousand pages. These may have become conventional wisdom in certain circles, but they are lies."
I do not believe Progressives are lying when they think Abraham Lincoln is part of white supremacy. I do not believe Progressives are secretly trying to make the US a worse place for their own benefit. But I do think they are wrong, and calling them liars will not start a dialogue.
My proposal: break up DC. Move each cabinet level operation to an appropriate place somewhere else in the country. Agriculture can move to Kansas. State can move to NYC. Education can move to Springfield IL. etc...
I am always amazed at the ability of some people to distill important, complex issues into something that can be easily read, and the reader walks away with more insight and sometimes even wisdom. This is one such column; thank you.
I used to be center-right. I have moved to solid right only because the center-right just kept giving ground. I think a counterweight is necessary. I used to be for some level of gun control, but each increase in control only led to more control. I used to be for a high level of support for public schools, but each tax increase only led to another tax increase while performance decreased. I used to believe most (60%) elected officials were decent folks, but learned over the last 10 years that the life tenure enjoyed by many of these folks turns them into very selfish, power-drunk people who have no idea, none, how most people live.
I keep thinking about the book "Son of the Revolution", and hope that doesn't become a book that could be easily changed to describe the US in about 10 years.
Bari, I just had to send you a note telling you how much I admire your work! As an increasingly concerned liberal (or what used to be liberal until like five minutes ago), I've been horrified with the excesses of cancel culture. You really put yourself out there (and take a lot of heat), so from the bottom of my heart thank you. I loved you at the Times, and I now love your Substack :)
I'm not sure who said it, but heard it in a speech I watched today. "Be not a cynic but rather a skeptic. Cynics create political bubbles, skeptics build factual bridges."
As a young adult, I always thought people sought the truth; that in the press or court of law, it was more important to "get it right" than "to be right."
This nation has a history, in particular, criminal courts, of wanting to "be right" rather than to "get in right." I can't fix the past. I can only teach my own the former, "get it right."
2020 taught me about the facts behind my own beliefs (cynicism). I became a better skeptic and challenged not only other's claim of the facts, but my own as well.
Sadly, what I learned most was those on both sides don't care about actual facts anymore. Rather, they "want to be right; on the right side of history" despite contrary facts. It makes me sad. I have let down my child. I taught that child to believe in the goodness of human character. I was wrong.
I came across Bari Weiss' work when I read her resignation letter from the New York Times. And now, having read several more pieces of her work on this newsletter, I am so impressed with her writing style, clarity and common sense. Don't agree with her on everything but do find her a refreshing voice of reason. Keep up the writing, Bari. The culture needs your voice.
Always inspiring and written with common sense. So thank you, Bari!
Two things: The first, people ARE fighting back. I have tuned into several school board meetings across the country and parents of all ethnicities are confronting the woke/marxist teachings. They are fighting back but they are muted from mainstream monopolies such as Facebook and Twitter. You have to actually go on the government sites and seek the footage out. But once you see, you cannot unsee, and parents are becoming the heroes our children so desperately need. Others will soon follow.
The second point, you mention worshipping God more than Yale. I'm not worried about the Yale folks at the moment. I am worried about the God folks specifically in churches that are fervently adopting the CRT/woke curriculum for their members. This is happening all across the board, subtle at first, but now the church leaders are no longer hiding it. The UMC methodist groups are outright telling white members to ask for forgiveness of the SIN OF BEING WHITE. Many members are scratching their heads, but many more, I'm afraid, are being led into this false and tragic narrative. This is sick. If the church continues on this path, they do not have to worry about anyone from the outside destroying their church. They will have done it to themselves.
Years ago, in 2013, our Methodist church started using the raised fist in their church bulletins. It bothered us, but we did not speak up. Perhaps our silence played a role in the marxist storyline that followed, and is tragically flourishing today.
We can no longer stay silent. But it must speak out carefully. Livelihoods are at stake.
Thank you Bari Weiss! Keep up your great work, and more importantly, please do not hesitate in asking for support or backing when the going gets rough. The vast majority of this country has your back- but you'll have to let us know when you need it...
Hi Bari, I thought you might be interested in a developing story in Canada that has more than a whiff of systemic anti-semitism. The CBC(aka CBC/Radio Canada) the country's publicly funded government-owned broadcaster, started a whisper campaign insinuating the "dual loyalties" canard against Vivian Bercovici, who was Canada's ambassador to the State of Israel under the previous, Conservative, Harper administration, and who is Jewish. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vivian-bercovici-israel-embassy-ambassador-1.5964168. Not content to leave this be, the CBC followed up with another story, which gratuitously added a photo of Canada's Senator Linda Frum standing next to an Israeli flag. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vivian-bercovici-black-cube-1.6034555 She is also Jewish, and sister of David Frum.
Senator Frum is an extraordinary personality, and a key influence if the previous Conservative government led by Stephen Harper, and as such not one to take this without response, and today respond she did, with a statement to her Senate colleagues which you can see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj8qZj1jGps&t=7s
Bari, please as a member of FAIR and from this important platform you have built here, consider exposing this to the American and Canadian public. This is a shameful episode of truly systemic prejudice and discrimination against people who have incontrovertibly been victimized in this way.
Thank you,
George Burger
I am a recent subscriber.Thank you for these ten principles. I abhor the divisiveness of segregating people based on skin color or other such characteristics. I grew up believing that was wrong. I grew up believing in civility, that robust debate and disagreement was to be expected and not the occasion to cancel someone. I have always had as my heroes Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln , Winston Churchill, FDR, Golda Meir, John Adams and a few others. None was perfect but they each displayed courage , conviction, intelligence and concern for people. I now discover to my dismay that all of western civilization is evil and must be totally replaced. It is very disheartening for me . I was a member of the Board of a charter school network but felt obliged to resign when it adopted white supremacy training which was designed to tell Black kids that an emphasis on writing was one of many indicia of white supremacy. I believe that this is factually wrong and condescending to those children. I am very pleased to discover your Common Sense and look forward to reading more.
Bari, thank you for sharing your gifted writing and sensible voice. Your interview with Rabbi Cosgrove was genius; your message is so simple and so clear. Thank you for being such a proud and courageous Jewish woman.
I think part of America’s Issue is that what happened hundreds of years ago are being taken out of context, so that there’s no surrounding info on which to make a ‘genuine’ decision as to good bad or in between. This is very common in politics, no matter the side.
Bari,
Where we reside on the pendulum’s movement only History will reveal. Your mention of Alexsandr Solzhenitsyn in an early commentary magnifies our dilemma. If people do not care to read the books and stories or listen to the tales, they will never understand the depths of our collective paths. The depth of the past is part of our present and future.
If mobs burn the books and destroy the monuments, they cannot destroy the depths of our collective understand/souls. Carl Jung had his moments. A searing analysis of all opinion/dogma/propaganda based on one’s value system is critically important and must be an essential part of one’s existence.
It is extremely painful to read and listen to the other sides everyday but knowledge and understanding only comes from viewing the opaque light and critically weighing it through your understanding of your life’s goals and dreams .
You present a value system worthy of emulation and continued development. You and Andrew Sullivan have walked on coals, as have others at other news media .
I applaud your courage.
Perfection!
I am going to push back on this column. In a future post, you write:
"The bottom line here is that intent matters. It doesn’t just matter a little bit: our entire culture, our entire justice system hinges on it.
There is a difference between saying something false and lying. There is a difference between hurling the n-word and quoting “Huckleberry Finn.” There is a “difference between murder and manslaughter,”
I fully agree. In this post here you write:
"Do not nod along when you hear the following: That Abraham Lincoln’s name on a public school or his likeness on a statue is white supremacy. (It is not; he is a hero.) That separating people into racial affinity groups is progressive. (It is a form of segregation.) That looting has no victims (untrue) and that small-business owners can cope anyway because they have insurance (nonsense). That any disparity of outcome is evidence of systemic oppression (false). That America is evil. (It is the last hope on Earth.)
This list could go on for a thousand pages. These may have become conventional wisdom in certain circles, but they are lies."
I do not believe Progressives are lying when they think Abraham Lincoln is part of white supremacy. I do not believe Progressives are secretly trying to make the US a worse place for their own benefit. But I do think they are wrong, and calling them liars will not start a dialogue.
My proposal: break up DC. Move each cabinet level operation to an appropriate place somewhere else in the country. Agriculture can move to Kansas. State can move to NYC. Education can move to Springfield IL. etc...
I am always amazed at the ability of some people to distill important, complex issues into something that can be easily read, and the reader walks away with more insight and sometimes even wisdom. This is one such column; thank you.
I used to be center-right. I have moved to solid right only because the center-right just kept giving ground. I think a counterweight is necessary. I used to be for some level of gun control, but each increase in control only led to more control. I used to be for a high level of support for public schools, but each tax increase only led to another tax increase while performance decreased. I used to believe most (60%) elected officials were decent folks, but learned over the last 10 years that the life tenure enjoyed by many of these folks turns them into very selfish, power-drunk people who have no idea, none, how most people live.
I keep thinking about the book "Son of the Revolution", and hope that doesn't become a book that could be easily changed to describe the US in about 10 years.
@bariweiss - are you planning to stand up for Gina? And how? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6gbkZu1hzw
Bari, I just had to send you a note telling you how much I admire your work! As an increasingly concerned liberal (or what used to be liberal until like five minutes ago), I've been horrified with the excesses of cancel culture. You really put yourself out there (and take a lot of heat), so from the bottom of my heart thank you. I loved you at the Times, and I now love your Substack :)
I'm not sure who said it, but heard it in a speech I watched today. "Be not a cynic but rather a skeptic. Cynics create political bubbles, skeptics build factual bridges."
As a young adult, I always thought people sought the truth; that in the press or court of law, it was more important to "get it right" than "to be right."
This nation has a history, in particular, criminal courts, of wanting to "be right" rather than to "get in right." I can't fix the past. I can only teach my own the former, "get it right."
2020 taught me about the facts behind my own beliefs (cynicism). I became a better skeptic and challenged not only other's claim of the facts, but my own as well.
Sadly, what I learned most was those on both sides don't care about actual facts anymore. Rather, they "want to be right; on the right side of history" despite contrary facts. It makes me sad. I have let down my child. I taught that child to believe in the goodness of human character. I was wrong.
I came across Bari Weiss' work when I read her resignation letter from the New York Times. And now, having read several more pieces of her work on this newsletter, I am so impressed with her writing style, clarity and common sense. Don't agree with her on everything but do find her a refreshing voice of reason. Keep up the writing, Bari. The culture needs your voice.
Such a clear voice of reason. Thank you!
Always inspiring and written with common sense. So thank you, Bari!
Two things: The first, people ARE fighting back. I have tuned into several school board meetings across the country and parents of all ethnicities are confronting the woke/marxist teachings. They are fighting back but they are muted from mainstream monopolies such as Facebook and Twitter. You have to actually go on the government sites and seek the footage out. But once you see, you cannot unsee, and parents are becoming the heroes our children so desperately need. Others will soon follow.
The second point, you mention worshipping God more than Yale. I'm not worried about the Yale folks at the moment. I am worried about the God folks specifically in churches that are fervently adopting the CRT/woke curriculum for their members. This is happening all across the board, subtle at first, but now the church leaders are no longer hiding it. The UMC methodist groups are outright telling white members to ask for forgiveness of the SIN OF BEING WHITE. Many members are scratching their heads, but many more, I'm afraid, are being led into this false and tragic narrative. This is sick. If the church continues on this path, they do not have to worry about anyone from the outside destroying their church. They will have done it to themselves.
Years ago, in 2013, our Methodist church started using the raised fist in their church bulletins. It bothered us, but we did not speak up. Perhaps our silence played a role in the marxist storyline that followed, and is tragically flourishing today.
We can no longer stay silent. But it must speak out carefully. Livelihoods are at stake.
Thank you Bari Weiss! Keep up your great work, and more importantly, please do not hesitate in asking for support or backing when the going gets rough. The vast majority of this country has your back- but you'll have to let us know when you need it...