NYT Page 1, Nov 2, 2014
This is, admittedly, only on the website this morning, and may reflect the judgment of only a single web editor, but it says so about the state of our world...
What does it say?
Top Story: Sexual harassment at Yale. The placement tells us that the Times is proud to have done this piece of investigative journalism, going after an elite university on a subject of personal interest to many Times readers. To call out hypocrisy on the part of a liberal institution is something liberals do extremely well. And we are proud of it.
Second Story: Macy's makeover. A fun read, a nice feature, nice photo. And of virtually no real consequence to anyone other than Macy's stockholders.
Third Story: Ho hum, the world is doomed and there's no political will to do anything about it. This is old news but clearly important so, yeah, positioned prominently as a matter of obligation. But what a turnoff.
Fourth Story: There is some lovely schadenfreude among many Times editors and readers, if I am at all representative, as religion slowly loses its grip on modern society. Sure, feed me stories about the pope disrupting the Catholic Church and shrinking church attendance and influence and I'll eat them up. But does it matter as long as the Catholics remain obstinate about birth control? Birth control! Seriously? Not to mention the ordination of women and, and, and....
Fifth Story: And is it really true that the Obama Administration is more or less toast for the next two years? Yeah. As the world burns (see Second Story). Hey, on second thought, the Times has it exactly right. I would rather read about sexual harassment at Yale, a Macy's makeover and the declining fortunes of the Catholic Church than this shit.