Conservative writer Andrew Sullivan blasts media for putting 'self-appointed saints’ before objectivity, leaves New York Magazine

Columnist Andrew Sullivan said he was pushed out of his job because staffers and management at New York Magazine and its parent, Vox Media, wouldn’t tolerate less than full compliance with 'leftist orthodoxy.’

Writers who are “not actively committed” to so-called “critical theory” in questions of race, gender and other identity issues are now seen in mainstream media as “actively, physically harming co-workers merely by existing in the same virtual space,” Sullivan wrote in a farewell letter published Friday by the magazine.

He added that the media has put “the moral clarity of some self-appointed saints before the goal of objectivity in reporting.”

Ironically, critical theory is described by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy as a basis for “social inquiry aimed at decreasing domination and increasing freedom in all their forms.”

Sullivan announced his departure from the magazine on Tuesday after resigning by mutual agreement with chief editor David Haskell. His exit came close on the heels of Bari Weiss, another prominent opinion writer, who resigned from the New York Times lamenting she was bullied for failing to conform with the consensus thinking of “an enlightened few.”

Like Weiss, Sullivan could hardly be considered a mainstream conservative. He is openly gay, says he passionately opposes President Donald Trump and sides with liberals on such issues as police reform, transgender discrimination laws, legalized drugs and climate change.

“If this conservatism is so foul that many of my peers are embarrassed to be working at the same magazine, then I have no idea what version of conservatism could ever be tolerated,” Sullivan said.

Nor could he be accused of making co-workers feel threatened by his physical presence, as Sullivan has battled health issues and works remotely.

“I’m mostly just grateful that his leaving will now enable the New York Magazine staffers to once again fell safe in their workplace,” journalist Glenn Greenwald said Friday on Twitter, with a heavy dose of sarcasm. Greenwald credited Sullivan for championing marriage equality at a time when most proponents considered it an “unthinkable” goal.

If the mainstream media won’t allow for diversity of opinion, it’s the job of independent voices to “pick up the slack,” Sullivan said. He intends to do just that by reviving his blog website, the Dish, which he shut down five years go. Through the Weekly Dish, as the blog will be called, he said he wants to be part of the solution to illiberalism.

As a prominent writer with a 15-year history of independent blogging success, Sullivan says he may be more able than younger journalists to stand up to leftist intolerance. Given Vox Media's distaste for his views, “in a time of ever-tightening budgets... I’m a luxury item that they don’t want to afford.”

Vox on Thursday announced the layoffs of about 6 percent of its 1,200 employees, citing economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Most of those affected had been furloughed in April. In light of those job losses, some Twitter users called his letter “smug” or “glib.” One of them was Jordan Crucchiola, who said she was among those let go by Vox on Thursday and noted that Sullivan “got a goodbye column to promote his next venture on his way out of NY Mag.”

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