The New York Times found itself fending off scathing criticism in recent days, after a column by conservative opinion writer Bret Stephens explaining why "Jews are smart" met with public backlash for quoting a racist study.
Stephens' column, The Secrets of Jewish Genius, which was published on Saturday, discussed the alleged superior intelligence of Ashkenazi Jews.
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"How is it that a people who never amounted even to one-third of 1% of the world's population contributed so seminally to so many of its most pathbreaking ideas and innovations? Aside from perennial nature-or-nurture questions, there is the more difficult question of why that intelligence was so often matched by such bracing originality and high-minded purpose," Stephens wrote.
"Ashkenazi Jews might have a marginal advantage over their gentile peers when it comes to thinking better. Where their advantage more often lies is in thinking different," says Bret Stephens. https://t.co/XQngBOMqmQ
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) December 28, 2019
He was immediately scrutinized for "using eugenics talking points" in his piece, as well as for opting for hollow provocation.
"Bret Stephens latest piece is not like the other ones. I mean it is bad, like the other ones, but this one crossed a very important line and for no reason other than to be provocative. Well, consider me provoked," Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said on Twitter.
Bret Stephens latest piece is not like the other ones. I mean it is bad, like the other ones, but this one crossed a very important line and for no reason other than to be provocative. Well, consider me provoked.
— Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) December 28, 2019
Jody Rosen, an American author who is is a contributing writer in The New York Times Magazine stated that there was no place for eugenicists at the paper.
Speaking as both an Ashkenazi Jew and a NYT contributor, I don't think eugenicists should be op-ed columnists. https://t.co/AlQM9m30rI
— Jody Rosen (@jodyrosen) December 28, 2019
The growing criticism prompted The Times to remove the citation of the study from the column and add an editor's note to the piece.
"An earlier version of this Bret Stephens column quoted statistics from a 2005 paper that advanced a genetic hypothesis for the basis of intelligence among Ashkenazi Jews," the editorial prefix added to Stephens' piece reads.
Bret Stephens' latest column (https://t.co/6ECSD0oWe8), which argues that culture and history drive Jewish achievements, has been edited to remove a reference to a paper widely disputed as advancing a racist hypothesis. We've added the following editors' note to the column. pic.twitter.com/Aj7eU3Fce2
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) December 29, 2019
"After publication, Mr. Stephens and his editors learned that one of the paper's authors, who died in 2016, promoted racist views. Mr. Stephens was not endorsing the study or its authors' views, but it was a mistake to cite it uncritically. The effect was to leave an impression with many readers that Mr. Stephens was arguing that Jews are genetically superior. That was not his intent. He went on instead to argue that culture and history are crucial factors in Jewish achievements and that, as he put it, 'At its best, the West can honor the principle of racial, religious and ethnic pluralism not as a grudging accommodation to strangers but as an affirmation of its own diverse identity. In that sense, what makes Jews special is that they aren't. They are representational.' We have removed the reference to the study from the column."
For many others, however, enough was enough.
I just cancelled my subscription with the @NYT after many years as a loyal reader. I feel a huge sense of relief.
I've let a lot of things go over the last couple of years but the #BretStephens racist, bullshit op-ed was the final straw. I'm done.
— Jay D'Lugin דזשײ דלוגין (@jaydlugin) December 28, 2019
News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff contributed to this report.
