Dear Miss Manners,
I saw recently that columnist Jen Rubin was next in the long line of brilliant journalists who have left the Washington Post and then on Tuesday, Jan. 22, she was followed by Philip Rucker, WaPo’s renowned national editor. I fear you may be next. You have witnessed so much ungracious behavior. If so, in my view, WaPo might just as well turn out the lights.
But if you do take a powder, what would be the most appropriate way to do so … like Jen … kick your employer in the metaphorical tush on the way out the door. WaPo has “failed spectacularly at a moment that we most need a robust, aggressive free press,” she wrote.
Or like Phil … who did not look back? “I look forward to collaborating with the world-class journalists at CNN to help chart a new era of digital transformation,” Rucker said in a statement published with word of his new gig. “Together we will cover the fast-paced stories that lie ahead with authority, curiosity, precision and creativity.”
Or like Pulitzer winner Ashley Parker, who left for the Atlantic, saying how much she appreciated her time at WaPo and treasured working with her colleagues?
“It’s hard to overstate how much I love The Post,” she posted as @AshleyRParker on X (once Twitter). “When I walked in there eight years ago, almost to the day, it instantly felt like home. I could talk about all the great journalism I was lucky to be a small part of…but really, it was just so damn fun.”
I think you can forgive the editorial cartoonist Ann Telanaes. She also quit in a most incendiary way after WaPo failed to run her cartoon portraying her boss of bosses as a presidential brownnoser. That cost the company many more subscribers. Though to be fair, she was minding her business, which is to be impolite.
I know your column is syndicated, but it was founded at WaPo and maybe you just can’t flee and keep the other media on board. But, I wonder, is there a clause regarding unethical or impertinent behavior that gives either party an out?
But then sadly, (to use an adverb I saw you recently deploy) I notice like Parker that you maintain a twitter/X account. To give you benefit of the doubt, (which you also graciously deploy) I imagine it’s important to maintain an isle of civility in what is increasingly a sea of iniquity.
In truth, I would follow you anywhere. Perhaps we could find a nice home for you in the city of St. Louis. With our population loss, we welcome immigrants and refugees. Well, several of us.
Ever reliable Google, Wikipedia and AI, tell me you are a Jew, a member of the tribe. There are roughly 60,000 of us here, many who hunger for your wise counsel (along with kosher Ted Drewes).
There is a stereotypic quote. Two Jews/Three Opinions, first attributed to… well… nobody as far as I can find. But, as we have been reminded recently in the Jewish-feminist publication Lilith Magazine, it alludes to the Mishnah which encourages Jews “to approach disagreements as Machloket l’shem Shamayim, which means “argument for the sake of Heaven.” This means disagreeing with someone “out of mutual respect, without hubris.”
We are sorely in need of that here as Jews have failed to find common ground since the events of Oct. 7, 2023, in Israel and Gaza, the ensuing protests on university campuses and the recent defeat of an incumbent congresswoman. So much judgment, so little empathy for others and their points of view.
I am asking you wherever you may go or should you continue to shelter in place, continue helping us mind our manners, Miss Manners. For heaven’s sake.
Fondly,
Richard Weiss
