Don't Let The Bret Stephens Bite: NY Times' Hypocritical 'Free Speech' Columnist Flips Out After Being Called A Bedbug

from the a-streisanding-for-the-ages dept

I will admit being only marginally aware of Bret Stephens in the past -- as someone the NY Times seems to employ to write really dumb opinion pieces that get people angry with how dumb they are. This latest bit of Bret Stephensisms isn't going to improve that impression. One of Stephens' big things, apparently, is whining about "the left" not believing in free speech any more, and complaining about things like "safe spaces on campus." Here are two recent examples:

If you're unable to see those, they're two columns by Stephens, with the first one entitled "Free Speech and the Necessity of Discomfort," and the second one entitled, "Leave Your Safe Spaces: The 2017 Commencement Address at Hampden-Sydney College." No matter what your stance is on "the necessity of comfort" or "safe spaces," once should at least conclude that Bret Stephens has positioned himself as one who believes that free speech is important, and people should chill out before getting offended.

Oh, and he sometimes tweets about free speech too, and has some more tweets that he's likely to regret before all this is over:

In the first tweet, he's quoting David French, saying "Our nation cannot maintain its culture of free speech if we continue to reward those who seek to destroy careers, rather than rebut ideas." Remember that one. And the second is "The right to offend is the most precious right. Without it, free speech is meaningless. That's what Charlie Hebdo was about."

Okay. That's a little background on Bret Stephens' professional opinion on free speech and people being offended when he's acting all intellectual-like. Now let's take a look at Bret Stephens' unprofessional opinion on free speech and people being offended, when someone calls him a bedbug.

On Monday morning, an assistant editor of the NY Times opinion section, Stuart Thompson, tweeted: "Breaking — There are bedbugs in the NYT newsroom." Lots of people made jokes about this. My favorite, from Lindsey Barrett, mocked the NY Times' unwillingness to call racism racism by rewriting it as: "I think you mean there's an insect-tinged problem in the NYT newsroom." She made some more jokes about bedbugs, including a fake headline by Bret Stephens: "'There Are No Bedbugs and If There Were, The Caustic Twitter Socialists Put Them There and Bed Bugs Are Good, Actually' --half a column by bret stephens, who was itching too vigorously to finish it" That one got lots of likes and retweets. But it's not the tweet that exposed Bret Stephens as the free speech hypocrite many people seemed to always assume he was.

Instead, it was a not even that funny tweet from Dave Karpf, an Associate Professor at George Washington University:

Then, last evening, Karpf noted that while that original tweet (cue ominous music: at the time...) had only 9 likes and 0 retweets, and did not in any way tag Stephens himself, Stephens took it upon himself to not just complain about the tweet to Karpf, but to cc his university provost:

We'll get to the contents of the letter in a moment. But, first, let's revisit those tweets from Stephens about free speech. He talked about how the right to offend was so important. And also was apparently against "those who seek to destroy careers rather than rebut ideas." Of course, there's no good reason for Stephens to cc the GWU provost except in a weak, thin-skinned, hypocritical attempt to destroy Karpf's career.

And let's not avoid the contents of Stephens' email. Because, it's weird.

Dear. Dr. Karpf,

Someone just pointed out a tweet you wrote about me, calling me a "bedbug." I'm often amazed about the things supposedly decent people are prepared to say about other people -- people they've never met -- on Twitter. I think you've set a new standard.

I would welcome the opportunity for you to come to my home, meet my wife and kids, talk to us for a few minutes, and then call me a "bedbug" to my face. That would take some genuine courage and intellectual integrity on your part. I promise to be courteous no matter what you have to say.

Maybe it will make you feel better about yourself.

Please consider this a standing invitation. You are more than welcome to bring your significant other.

Cordially,

Bret Stephens

It certainly sounds like Stephens "took offense" to Karpf's random joke. Perhaps he felt being a NY Times Opinion columnist gave him a "safe space" from criticism? It must be that, or otherwise, to think that calling him a "bedbug" is a "new standard" of Twitter-based discourse, suggests someone who is so shielded from the way Twitter arguments normally play out as to be a poor judge of what the "new standards" are of insults. And, yes, you could argue that Stephens' creepy invite to come over to his house (with Karpf's significant other) and insult him to his face, is a request for "more speech," in response to "speech." But, we should remind everyone that Stephens' cc'd the George Washington University provost.

Anyway, if you couldn't already guess what happened next, I should tell you that Merriam-Webster chose last evening to (not for the first time), tweet out their explanation of the Streisand Effect. Whenever the dictionary starts adding to my own mentions, you know something good is going down.

And, so, yes, within just a few hours, Karpf's tweet mocking Stephens, that had just 9 likes and 0 retweets, has many thousands of retweets and tens of thousands of likes. And, tons and tons of people are now associating Bret Stephens with bedbugs. Here's just a few fun tweets.

Like bedbugs, those tweets just keep on coming. On my Twitter account, at least, Bret Stephens, was the top "trending" topic for many hours last night. Note how many likes and retweets all of those tweets have. Bret Stephens has taken a throwaway line that most people ignored and ensured that, for years, people will associate him with bedbugs.

Incredibly, overnight, rather than realizing that he'd fucked up, Stephens apparently decided to dig deeper and make it worse. First, he shut down his Twitter account, laughably claiming that Twitter "is a sewer" that "brings out the worst in humanity." He then went on MSNBC and compared being called a "bedbug" to the worst "totalitarian regimes," while also (laughably, ridiculously) trying to argue that cc'ing the GWU provost wasn't about trying to get Karpf fired. He claims he just wanted the provost to know what his staff was doing. Which... come on. No one believes that.

Of course, like bedbugs, I'm guessing that the NY Times won't get rid of Bret Stephens either.

Filed Under: bedbugs, bret stephens, david karpf, getting people fired, hypocrite, insults, offensive speech, safe spaces
Companies: george washington university, ny times