The @NYTimes: A bad newspaper in a good country ~ Elder Of Ziyon

Monday, November 03, 2025

The @NYTimes: A bad newspaper in a good country

This is an op-ed in today's New York Times by Masha Gessen titled "How to Be a Good Citizen

of a Bad Country."

When your country pursues abhorrent policies, when the face it turns to the world is the face of a monster, what does that say about you? In my experience, it is strikingly easy to shrug off one’s responsibility for the country where one pays taxes, contributes to the public conversation and, at least nominally, has the right to vote, if that country is the United States. It seems one can just say “Not in my name” and continue to enjoy the wealth and the freedom of movement one’s citizenship confers. But as this country builds more cages for immigrants, deploys military force against civilians in city after city, regularly commits murder in the high seas and systematically destroys its own democratic institutions, that may change. It should change. What does one do then? How can one be a good citizen of a bad state?

On a recent trip to Israel, I talked to a number of Jewish citizens who have grappled with this question. In the last two years, as Israel has carried out a genocide against Palestinians and has all but dropped any pretense of democracy, many Israelis have come to dread telling people what country they are from. Some see this as unfair, having never personally supported their country’s far-right politicians or its prime minister, and having done what they could to change the course of Israeli politics. Others — a tiny minority — are grateful for the scorn of other nations, in hopes it can bring change to their own.

Then Gessen goes on to interview the tiny minority of Israelis who agree that the country is monstrous to ask their advice.

Notice that the only bad countries ever mentioned in Gessen's universe are Israel and the United States.

The entire piece starts from a premise that is utterly false - Ithat srael is acting monstrously, it engages in genocide, it is no longer a democracy. Then it cherry picks "evidence" that supports it.

While this is an op-ed, it violates every standard of even opinion journalism. It asserts lies as fact and doesn't even attempt to pretend that these opinions are anything but proven. and the NYT, by failing to edit the "genocide" accusation as even disputed (which happened last week with the same columnist), is engaging in spreading antisemitism.

I ran this op-ed through my TAMAR framework to identify media bias, and it created this infographic on its own describing the propaganda methodology ss "closed loop morality."