I don’t contemplate myself a masochist. But once in a while, I nonetheless learn a New York Instances article.
Final week, Vice President Vance delivered a brutally frank speech in Germany, castigating European leaders who’ve frequently assaulted the notion of free speech throughout the continent—arresting folks for delicate insults and even nullifying an election in Romania over allegations of “misinformation.”
It was critical stuff. But within the midst of an article about worldwide politics, the Instances simply needed to remind us: “His first days as a vice-presidential candidate were consumed by his criticism of ‘childless cat ladies.’”
There it was once more—that throwaway comment from a 2021 interview, apparently enshrined within the Instances’ model information as obligatory background. 4 years later, they’re nonetheless clutching these pearls.
Inquisitive about their fixation, I searched their archives. The Instances has managed to work that remark into 204 completely different tales. (Significantly, 204 instances.) They’ve squeezed it into political evaluation, abortion debates, and opinion items—anyplace they might wedge in a reference.
The Instances’ artistic division labored extra time, exploring each angle. Usha Vance defends him! Former feminine mates trash him! “JD Vance: Purr-fectly Dreadful.”
However they didn’t cease at journalism-by-keyword. In addition they tried a cultural counterattack, roping in Eminem to battle Vance’s supposed misogyny, working within the cat quote as soon as once more. They sidestepped that the rapper constructed his profession singing about beating girls.
The paper additionally received professorial. One significantly grandiloquent assume piece traced “the long history of bias against cosmopolitan cat-owning women” all the way in which again to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, full with a breathless comparability: “as girls were writhing and convulsing their way to persecution.”
And, after all, no media circus is full with out superstar endorsements. Fading liberal icons discovered the method: invoke the magic phrase and—poof!—a New York Instances article. Hiya, Candace Bergen! Linda Ronstadt continues to be related! Jennifer Aniston, we see you! It was like a retirement house for progressive stars, with cat girls because the admission ticket.
Then Taylor Swift, ever the advertising and marketing genius, trumped all of them by signing her Instagram endorsement of Kamala Harris as “Childless Cat Lady.” That single stroke of social media genius earned her mentions in 21 separate Instances tales.
The absurdity hit its peak when the Instances dragged Doug Emhoff’s daughter, Ella, into the fray, furiously insisting that Kamala wasn’t actually childless: “How can you be ‘childless’ when you have cutie-pie kids like Cole and Ella?”
Kamala almost had three step-children, after all. In his first marriage, Doug impregnated Ella and Cole’s nanny, spurring his divorce.
How did the Instances take care of that scandal? Considerably completely different.
Seems, they did do some reporting on the difficulty. They wrote he had a “previously undisclosed relationship” which ended his marriage, however disregarded the messy nanny and being pregnant angle. Had there solely been a cat concerned.
The paper’s obsession with Vance’s cat comment is an ideal case examine not of journalism, however in politics.
The Instances isn’t informing the general public; it’s curating a actuality the place conservatives are at all times villains and liberals at all times victims. On this world, a flippant comment from 2021 is a nationwide disaster, however a vice chairman’s husband impregnating the assistance? That’s simply messy and greatest left unsaid.
The irony? Whereas they’ve been obsessing over cat girls, Vance’s recognition has really grown. Seems, voters who see him unfiltered by the media’s fog machine discover one thing completely different: a considerate chief tackling critical points.
In the meantime, someplace in Manhattan, an editor is already assigning story quantity 205.
Ken LaCorte writes about censorship, media malfeasance, uncomfortable questions, and trustworthy perception for folks curious how the world actually works. Comply with Ken on Substack
