It’s really not some ‘conspiracy theory,’ since no one is saying that Trumpkins directly forced the firings. What I think I’m reading here is that many Catholics have bought into the (false) idea that Trump is the only acceptable candidate for a Christian to vote for; this is manifest in polls, comment threads and the very angry anti-Simcha-and-Mark blogosphere (which I won’t link to out of charity to all). This angry group has commented/blogged/lobbied hard against the two writers for months and is now ruthlessly celebrating their firings.
If NCR editors had read that feedback, and every good editor should’ve, they’d’ve been faced with a choice: either support their writers, or give their readers more of what they want. They opted for the latter (and the easier) and caved to the mob.
Before someone says, “Well, this was a long time coming and the Trump stuff was merely the straw that broke the camel’s back,” I’d point out that both Shea and Fisher had developed their writing voices/personas well before the NCR hired them. NCR Editors knew who they hired, profited from what the two wrote, and cut the cord only when their opinions either A) Didn’t conform to the editorial board’s political preference, or even more pathetically B) Didn’t jive in the mob’s echo chamber.
If I’m a writer with a shred of self-respect, I’m not going anywhere near an outlet that openly displays such cowardly editorial leadership.
I really disagree with this.
I can hardly be regarded as a “Trumpkin”. I’m not voting for Trump, and I’m not voting for Clinton. Like Shea, I have the luxury of living in an area that is not a swing state, and I don’t have to. Chances are high that Shea and I are voting for the same candidate.
What this seems to boil down to, in my view, is that Shea was taking the position that people who live in swing states have a moral duty to vote fro Clinton. I don’t think you can ever get there, given that the Democrats clearly support ending life before birth on liberal terms and are presently hostile to marriage. If a person can get there, however, they have an obligation to argue in a persuasive but non insulting style. The NCR surely doesn’t have to keep publishing somebody who is writing under a Catholic flag who doesn’t do that.
Fisher is a writer I really like, and I’m sorry to see her go, but again, as a Catholic writer, if you reduce (off the NCR) to calling Trump’s symbol a combination of a swastika and an indecent act you are likely to pay for it. That’s not being prudish, it’s being prudent. Indeed, one of the things that widely disgusted people about the GOP race was its decent into vulgarity early on, and now the same class of people who abhorred that cannot engage in it themselves.
Finally, the firing of columnists for failing to comport to the standards of a journal, including editorial standards, is as old as journalism itself. No writer or reader can demand that a journal must publish anyone. If they want somebody published, they ought to campaign with the journal. If they don’t like what the journal publishes, they may choose not to read it, as you note.
I don’t think that hoards of “Trumpkins” took either of them down, which you agreed with. I think they’re own writing did that.
) I believe that Mark Shea is a humble man who truly believes in truth. There is room for growth in all of us. I hope that his time off will be a time of healing and growth. Why don’t we all just pray for our brother in his time of need.
