But the skill of reporting by itself is utterly insufficient for writing about ideas, to the point where a journalist can forget thatideas are a thing worth writing about. And so Metz stumbled on one of the most prolific generators of ideas on the internet and produced 3,000 words of bland gossip. It’s lame, but it’s not evil.
He just seems not bright or open minded enough to understand different norms of discussion and epistemology than what is in the NYT employee’s handbook. It’s not dangerous to talk to him (which I did back in 2020, before he pivoted the story to be about Scott). It’s just kinda frustrating and pointless.
Kudos for getting this interview and posting it! Extremely based.
As for Metz himself, nothing here changed my mind from what I wrote about him three years ago:
He just seems not bright or open minded enough to understand different norms of discussion and epistemology than what is in the NYT employee’s handbook. It’s not dangerous to talk to him (which I did back in 2020, before he pivoted the story to be about Scott). It’s just kinda frustrating and pointless.
I think you’re ascribing to stupidity what can be attributed to malice on a plain reading of his words.