Who Still Reads The New York Times?

Who still reads The New York Times? I do, but whereas some 40 years ago I viewed the Gray Lady as the acme of journalistic truth and ethics, today I watch as this newspaper's management takes it the way of the long defunct Berkeley Barb. Many of my friends have cancelled their subscriptions, but so long as the Times offers their editorials and op-eds online and free of charge, I will continue to examine their fare, much as I glance at the headlines of the National Enquirer while waiting on supermarket checkout lines.

Surely, however, there are those still devoted to the Times, as it steers its way into an iceberg, but how might we gauge their character?

Recently, I submitted an online comment (http://jgcaesarea.blogspot.com/2010/04/tom-friedmans-whos-up-for-building.html)
to Thomas Friedman's April 6 op-ed, "Who's Up for Building Bridges?", which was submitted early enough to find its way onto the first page of Readers' Comments. Neither Left nor Right leaning (at least in my humble opinion), my comment, no. 18, received 15 Readers' Recommendations. Now, let's compare that total with the most popular comment, no. 4, which received 381 recommendations and stated:

"Republicans have defined themselves as the Party of Inertia, Catatonia & Ossification. In short, there is no place for Republicans in the 21st century."

No place for Republicans in the 21st century? Although I am not a Republican (long ago I was a registered Democrat), I am curious what the author of this comment would like to do with those belonging to Abraham Lincoln's party.

The second most popular comment, no. 3, which received 366 recommendations, declared:

"And let's face it, taxing the rich is the right thing to do! We all know that, even if the richest among us resent it!"

Sure, taxing the rich will cure the U.S. of its accumulated deficit and fully fund Obama Care. I don't know why, but I am vaguely reminded of how Stalin in the 1930s stripped the Kulaks, the Soviet Union's wealthier peasants, of their farms and belongings and systematically brought on the deaths of millions of Russians (60 million according to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) by way of execution, forced labor and famine.

The third most popular comment, no. 1, with 319 recommendations, avers:

"And the reality of America today is a runaway rapist corporate culture (& political parties accesories), to which community, real humans, land, and all education are victims, not partners."

America is a "runaway rapist corporate culture"? Good to know. Now tell me where in this world it is better.

In my opinion, however, the most revealing comment, no. 14, with 249 recommendations, asserts:

"Unfortunately there is no literacy or intelligence or rational-thought test for voters, and there is a rabid wing of the GOP which is doing all it can to feed the flames of irrational hatred."

This learned reader would make use of literacy and intelligence tests to weed out Republican voters, much as these tests were once used in the Deep South to prevent African Americans from voting.

If reader comments are any indication of the core readership of The New York Times, they are in more trouble than they could possibly imagine.

Anyone who has ever submitted an online comment to the Times has read the caveat: "Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive." It would appear that The New York Times of today is of the opinion that labeling the U.S. "a runway rapist corporate culture" and calling for restrictions on voting rights are not "abusive". Apparently, my values are no longer attuned to the Times.