Bari Weiss is a first-class piece of shit. That is not up for debate. But is she a fascist?
I was struck by Weiss’ comments at a recent Jewish Leadership Conference, in which she conflated the hard-edged progressive Hasan Piker with white nationalists Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, and expressed a desire to use CBS to “redraw the lines of what falls in the 40 yards of acceptable debate in American political and cultural life.”
I shared a Drop Site News tweet of the comments, along with a note asserting that Weiss is fundamentally censorious and simply a fascist. Shameless self-promoter that I am, I also included a link to my March 6 treatise on why Weiss is the enemy within:
Evelyn Quartz wasn’t having any of it, responding to my note: “I actually don’t think Weiss is a fascist. She’s more of a neocon/Zionist. To me collapsing her project into fascism muddles some things. Just my thoughts!”
We went back and forth with increasing nuance, until it became clear the best way to settle the question would be a live Substack debate of the issue. Thank you to everyone who tuned in to participate, and thank you to Evelyn for engaging me in a robust conversation!
In the end, Evelyn and I agree on some big-picture questions of impact, essence, and principle purpose in maintaining unjust and undemocratic systems of control. But as a writer, I had a lot of fun exploring the differences of opinion on language and underlying facts that inform our use of certain labels. I hope you enjoy the replay! -Evan
