One thing I think about sometimes is the time a decade or so ago when the editor of the MIT Tech Review scolded me for being critical of Milo Yiannopolis because Milo “went to a good school” (some British shit that probably means a lot to them but I can’t even remember what it was) and therefore couldn’t actually be awful. That was one of those turning points where I realized I would never actually get elevated to a certain level of culture or visibility, and I was quite content with that.

@anildash I met classmates of Ross Douthat that were smart and sane enough to not subscribe to his BS but would defend him because they were (parse this carefully) classmates.

@Garwboy can relate similar anecdotes about the Guardian staff and Johann Hari (well-heeled plagiarist and mental health denialist).

"classmates" indeed. :/

@arclight @anildash @Garwboy Weird thing, university allegiance. Hari was the editor of the student newspaper, which made it abundantly clear from his editorials that he was a grifting shit. I've got to assume it's those who didn't overlap with him think he's great because he did a high-profile role awfully.