Wolfe, who was fired from the NYT for a tweet where she said she had "chills" after Biden landed in DC ahead of the inauguration, is the latest victim of a playbook perfected by the likes of GamerGate and similar harassment campaigns. https://twitter.com/Wolfe321/status/1353106479549739009

By rewarding and validating the bad-faith complaints of the harassers (who, to a person, were not interested in a free and fair press, but in punishing a perceived ideological foe), the NYT encourages more of the same.

Some right wingers, again speaking in bad faith, will say something to the effect of "live by the sword, die by the sword." Arguing that liberals and lefties are just getting a taste of their own medicine. But the issue is that one side is sincere and the other simply is not.

The publication gets boxed into feeling like they have to prove that they are "unbiased," and so they overreact to a crowd that has no sincere interest in journalistic ethics.

Bad faith is at the core of this playbook. The outrage is mostly confected and stems from nothing sincere. The harassers have no serious concern about any lofty issues of fairness. Rather, the NYT's concern for such things is weaponised against them. It is hacked.

And instead of recognising the confected outrage for what it is and refusing to reward the strategy, the NYT goes ahead and feeds it.

The key strategy for these harassment campaigns is to weaponise the opponent's principles by scrupulously having none of your own; thus you'll say whatever you need to in order to 'win' that specific battle, pretend to whatever emotion.

The only winning move against them is not to play.