Spencer wrote about this yesterday: an op-ed writer at The New York Times got shunned and humiliated at a human resources training where he voiced his affinity for Chick-fil-A sandwiches. Aaron Rubenstein recalled this episode from 2019 in The Atlantic, where he realized he might have made a mistake taking the job at the Times. Here’s the background:
Now, thanks to former NYT opinions staffer Adam Rubenstein — who edited Sen. Tom Cotton's op-ed responding to leftist BLM riots during the "mostly peaceful" summer of 2020 — we have a new anecdote that shows the HR culture at the Times is even more absurd than a satire writer could concoct and another inside account on the insane reaction to publishing Cotton's quite mainstream opinion on the riots destroying American cities and livelihoods.
[…]
On one of my first days at The New York Times, I went to an orientation with more than a dozen other new hires. We had to do an icebreaker: Pick a Starburst out of a jar and then answer a question. My Starburst was pink, I believe, and so I had to answer the pink prompt, which had me respond with my favorite sandwich.
Russ & Daughters’ Super Heebster came to mind, but I figured mentioning a $19 sandwich wasn’t a great way to win new friends. So I blurted out, “The spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A,” and considered the ice broken.
The HR representative leading the orientation chided me: “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people.” People started snapping their fingers in acclamation. I hadn’t been thinking about the fact that Chick-fil-A was transgressive in liberal circles for its chairman’s opposition to gay marriage. “Not the politics, the chicken,” I quickly said, but it was too late. I sat down, ashamed.
Of course, the reactions were as expected, with many noting how this is overkill. The Chick-fil-A wars began and ended under the Obama era. It remains one of the most profitable, if not the most profitable, fast-food chains in the country despite being off on Sundays. They’re not going to be canceled. Second, some New York Times writers, like Hannah Jones, felt Rubenstein made up this story and commented that it "never happened." That position lasted about 30 seconds when she got fact-checked by The New York Times employees. Former New York magazine writer Jesse Singal had a funny thread shredding Jones’ take on the story:
2/ For the Hannah-Jones, Hobbes et al theory to be true, it would need to be the case that Rubenstein not only lied about this nonexistent event at the time, but somehow convinced other NYT employees that it happened, or to lie for him. Quite a conspiracyhttps://t.co/V5Zu6fjO4P
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) February 27, 2024
3/ I am once again confused as to why journalists are comfortable loudly accusing others of lying rather than doing bare-basic reporting. This took me 10 minutes of work.
— Jesse Singal (@jessesingal) February 27, 2024
Never happened. https://t.co/FdLQHzMIan
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) February 26, 2024
In defense of Nikole Hannah-Jones, she only writes one article every 18 months or so at NYT, so does anyone expect her to actually know that @RubensteinAdam is obviously telling the truth? https://t.co/UAjsjlgDuS
— Matthew Foldi (@MatthewFoldi) February 28, 2024
It's like when liberals try to redirect the ‘snowflake’ attack on conservatives. It doesn’t work. Desecrating the flag is something that most people find offensive, whereas no one gives a flying you-know-what about proper pronoun use. Conservatives have rightly called out liberal myths, like when these folks say their children, some as young as four years old, told them they’re for gun control, gay rights, or against Donald Trump. No kid speaks like that; an appropriate use of the ‘never happened’ dismissal.
An HR representative being triggered over a Chick-fil-A sandwich isn't shocking to most. It's an industry that's become infested with woke liberals.
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