Sarah Jeong . . the true story

Not the disgusting smears and lies by the right-wing mob.

Jeong is a venerated tech culture journalist with a broad range of expertise, known for everything from authoring a book on systemic online harassment to reporting on major internet case law. (She’s currently a senior writer at Vox’s sister site The Verge, which she’ll be departing for the Times.)

She’s also an outspoken progressive and feminist, making her an obvious target for the right-wing internet mobs that have been especially active of late, launching organized smear campaigns against left-leaning celebrities by weaponizing their old jokes and tweets. . . .

Once Jeong’s hiring was announced, her detractors immediately started digging through her internet history to see what they could find. A survey of Jeong’s past commentary on Twitter reveals several mainly sarcastic tweets dating back to 2013, which were largely discussing and responding to the oppressive mentality of white culture:

#CancelWhitePeople

— sarah jeong (@sarahjeong) November 18, 2014

In tweets like the one embedded above, Jeong appeared to be commenting on the idea that white people often believe they are being discriminated against when they aren’t. To equate “being mean to white people” with the actual systemic oppression and marginalization of minority groups is a false equivalency.

But Jeong’s detractors removed this type of context, and began to circulate her old tweets in curated roundups that quickly went viral:

Meet the newest member of the New York Times editorial board.

I'd say that these tweets were part of her resumè when she applied for the job. pic.twitter.com/CLgFvPeAgM

— Garbage Human (@GarbageHuman_) August 2, 2018

The screencapped tweets painted a picture of Jeong sarcastically engaging in the same hyperbolic ranting rhetoric employed by alt-right internet groups like Gamergate. As members of those movements have done countless times before, Jeong’s detractors organized to deploy a system of performative outrage, using the screencaps as “evidence” that Jeong was racist and launching a torrent of violent, racist, and misogynistic speech at both Jeong and the New York Times to voice its displeasure. The screencapped tweets also circulated among fringe alt-right sites like the Daily Caller and Gateway Pundit.

And here's the statement the NYT issued about hiring her.

Listen friends, you have got to stop believing these people. Fox News, Gateway Pundit, PJ Media -- they are all fucking liars. Do not believe the garbage they spew.

Update: Some people are apparently too stupid to comprehend the concept of sarcasm. Also, let me add that the function of the NYT Editorial Board is to contribute to the unsigned essays that appear next to the letters. It has nothing to do with the news operation, which is overseen by the Editor in Chief; nor does it have anything to do with the signed columns which appear on the opposite page, such as those of Nicholas Kristof. That's it.