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Monday, October 12, 2020

The New York Times, then and now

In 1891, eleven Italian-American men were lynched by a mob for allegedly having killed the New Orleans chief of police, David Hennessy. The Wikipedia account of this incident quotes the New York Times' article about the murders, which ran the very next day: 

"These sneaky and cowardly Sicilians, the descendants of bandits and assassins, who have transported to this country the lawless passions, the cut-throat practices, and the oath-bound societies of their native country, are to us a pest without mitigation. Our own rattlesnakes are as good citizens as they...Lynch law was the only course open to the people of New Orleans." 

Hmm. The august Grey Lady, justifying lynching. A little hard to recognize her.

16 comments:

lowly said...

Merely a bit more upscale language and different targets now. Change the ethnic groups and natives to immigrants and it reads the same.

John Craig said...

Lowly --
Good point. They're just as biased, just in a different way.

ArthurinCali said...

In modern American life, I keep my subscription to NYT as mostly entertainment. Watching the pendulum swing further towards clown world is one thing, but to see how far they go to justify positions and events is an exercise in pretzel logic.

One example(among many) is how an opinion article can describe the plight of overcrowded Los Angeles, having 5-10 recent "immigrants" living in a one bedroom with rent as high as my mortgage.

Meanwhile, the very next article scolds me on how bad I am for not believing in another amnesty for 11-30 million illegal immigrants here.
Clown world indeed.

Anonymous said...

Hello, Mr. Craig,

Just checking in. Are you planning to write another column soon? I miss seeing your perspectives – and it's not like there's a shortage of subject fodder to choose from! Take care!

John Craig said...

Anonymous --
Thank you, but no immediate plans. One of the things which inhibits me is that it seems silly to write about anything else when the recent election was so obviously marred by widespread fraud. But Google -- the host of this site -- is evidently censoring any mention of such, and I don't want the entire blog taken down. So, have been silent. But thanks for checking in.

Anonymous said...

Hello again, Mr. Craig. I understand your reticence about having Google's censors take down your site and wish there were other options available. The big tech companies also are doing the same with anyone who questions the narratives about the pandemic, COVID vaccines and the Jan. 6 fracas. The fact that they are doing so, clearly at the behest of the government and political establishment, delegitimizes them completely and allows me to raise my arms smugly in victory. After the last 18 months (actually six years, counting Trump's ascendency and fall), I'm not in the mood to be a gracious winner. Take care and start posting as soon as you can.

John Craig said...

Anonymous --
Thank you again. Unfortunately, we see tis differently: while it can be viewed as a roundabout moral victory for those who prefer freedom of speech, I see it as a victory for the hard Left. They have succeeded in their goals of stolen elections, strict censorship, near open borders, and domination of academia and government. Their takeover seems to be near complete, the will of the majority of the American people be damned.

Anonymous said...

Hi, Mr. Craig

I agree with your assessment of the situation. My victory was only a moral one, a case of frigidly cold comfort. Otherwise, I concur with the title and substance of John Derbyshire's great book, "We Are Doomed." It's frustrating how plainly awful our country's leadership and policies are and how many unthinking simpletons swallow everything they're told, no questions asked. Stay strong during the tough times ahead!

DC said...

Maybe you should set up a Locals.com community. Or a Substack page. That's where a lot of people have gone to speak freely without censorship.

John Craig said...

DC --
Good suggestion, thank you, but I also got tired of blogging, to tell the truth. Did it for ten years, and in March '18 (well before the election) I said I was going to more or less stop, which I have. But thank you.

Unknown said...

You must get this alot but I would enjoy reading your takes on events in 2021.

John Craig said...

Unknown --
Thank you very much, appreciate that. I sort of stopped blogging when the censorship of Google (which oversees the blogspot site) and others became more severe. I'm a little afraid that telling the truth about stuff now would result in the entire blog being taken down, so have been hesitant. Also busy with other stuff, to be honest. But thank you.

Daniel said...

John: Is there a way to reach you by email?

John Craig said...

Daniel --
Is this Daniel from Hong Kong? Send me your email address in a comment and I won't publish it and will send you an email.

Anonymous said...

John, miss your posts. Where have you been? Anybody know where John has been?

John Craig said...

Anon --
Thank you, and thanks for asking. I'm still around (i.e., alive and sentient), just had enough of blogging. (I spoke common sense to the world for ten years and the world responded by just getting crazier). Who is this? (Did you have a name you commented under before?)