Morality as a Foreign Language

When we can’t speak from a common moral framework, we lose the ability to judge even the most obvious ethical failings.

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Dear Reader (Including the 7,199 people who are supposedly more influential than me),

Trigger warning: This “news”letter will mention Jeffrey Toobin.

Editor’s Note: Unlike the last “news”letter about Mr. Toobin—which caused a few people to cancel their subscriptions—the jocularity will be kept within the borders of propriety and relevance.

Author’s Note: I reserve the right at any time I deem necessary—or fun—to stray across those borders with the impunity of the Viet Cong on the Ho Chi Minh trail.

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    “I signed up for serious political commentary, not a humor column!” - in all seriousness I’m surprised people canceled their subscriptions over Toobin jokes. This G file was hilarious. I laughed out loud several times when reading it. And as someone who very much enjoyed The Tipping Point, I thought your comments about Malcolm Gladwell were spot on.

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  2. Fudrock

    Generally agree with Jonah, and certainly feel like Jeffrey Toobin did his bit(s) to get fired. Difficult to see why that behavior wouldn't get you fired in 99.9% of businesses outside of the sex trade. By my lights, it's a notch below deplorable, since, as an act, it wasn't directed at anyone and wasn't especially malicious, just careless and grimy. In that sense, Toobin stands apart from Matt Lauer and Louis C.K., etc. It's a difference in degree, but I think it matters. That said, the temptation to slot this into the broader #MeToo is understandable, but in piling onto his co-workers, ostensible flag-bearers for an elite media outlet that does its share of line-drawing, especially on this topic via Ronan Farrow (A+ for Weinstein, D- for Kavanaugh - even a polarized Congress didn't touch that one with a 10ft pole), I think you miss a step. You take Gladwell and Gessen as stand-ins for elite media hypocrisy without asking yourself how there reaction should be colored due to their proximity to the person. Apologies for making assumptions, but we are all guilty: this was their colleague, very possibly their friend, and he did something appalling, disappointed his colleagues and organization, and squandered their respect (at least in Gessen's case, who witnessed it; seems like Gladwell found out about it later). Nevertheless, I suspect there's a very human impulse to reconcile themselves with the actual person in the context of these events, e.g. who he had been to them vs. who he now was. I know I've been there; it's hard to see someone you love and respect fall, and it's sometimes hard to recalibrate after that. I'm sure the woker parts of the leftist media wouldn't shrink from throwing Jeffrey Toobin on the #MeToo pyre, especially if it meant clicks and fed the narrative. Distance removes moral relativism (which is implied by your indictments of both sides). That said, I think you heap a bit too much on Gladwell and Gessen. Perhaps, it had been wiser for them to refrain from commenting at all, but that might have been viewed as complicity.

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  3. Avatar photo
    Ed P

    Hilarious, well written and insightful. Thank you Mr Goldberg

    I'm squarely on the left side of the aisle, and even I had weird schadenfreude over Toobin's mishap here. He is just so dignified and straight up caricature of the librul professor, that made this thing all the more embarrassing and extreme. I actually really like Toobin. But this was just so dramatic and cringe worthy. And just so damn funny.

    I think some people have come to Toobin's defense with a (rather poor) argument but one that does illustrate the diverging moral priorities of right and left wing Murrica. But not quite as Mr Goldberg characterizes it. The notion that this was a mishap, a mistake. And not a mistake like 'I shouldn't have grabbed her butt when I was drunk' type mistake. But a bona fide screw up where Toobin accidentally shared private things about himself, nothing malicious. This is in contrast to other pressing current moral priorities of the #MeToo movement and similar. Toobin's incident, this argument goes, does not qualify for the sort of MeToo scorn reserved for sexual harassers and assailants even tho the evidence is so clear and hilarious and undisputed. Unlike the prototypical 'cis-male-abuser', Toobin 'only sexually assaulted himself' and the problem came from the fact he failed to turn his camera off.

    Now, a reality check: broadcasting video of this behavior to your co-workers is just totally unacceptable no matter the circumstances and does indeed amount to sexual harassment, even if it was a weird sort of mishap. And if you're doing this on zoom calls with the camera off, thats also really gross and unacceptable as far as I'm concerned. You can at least have the decency to record a copy and wait for later, ffs.

    To me it is a shame. Underlying much of the right wing sentiment surrounding #MeToo, it seems to me, is this notion that it is unrealistic to expect people to behave better and less aggressively around sex in our society. There are other criticisms, valid ones about due process in some cases, but it seems to me that its mostly rejected because society needs aggressors in the game of sex (and nature has mostly programmed the male of our species to play that part), and more or less, we shouldn't cry about some spilled milk surrounding that. 'Human nature is human nature and it won't much change.' And the Toobin story really reinforces this narrative. Even Mr Toobin, uber dignified librul, could not contain his libido enough to avoid accidentally committing severe sexual harassment.

    But I think that's mostly wrong. While many pushing #MeToo are way overzealous and in some cases, all too eager to accept accusations at face value.....there is an underlying issue here that can and should be addressed. Our society IS too accepting of the harm caused by unwanted sexual aggression, too willing to dismiss victims who speak up about it and too ready to excuse and make excuses for perpetrators.

    The decades of coverups involving sexual abuse of minors in a variety of institutions coming to light the past several years IS solid evidence of this dynamic and our societies need for adjustment. These are IMMENSELY difficult issues to talk about, especially if you are on the receiving end of unwanted sexual attention and/or abuse. If we want less abuse, we need less stigma and a means for victims to come forward with confidence their claims will be taken seriously.

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    Jason Gibson

    this was classic goldberg

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  5. Pedro Goulart

    I don't know a ton about Gladwell, but when I first read that quote I legit thought he was talking somewhat in jest or trolling. Like, "ah, so you seem to find a use for traditional morality, but won't admit, right?"

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  6. Kiernan McAlpine

    Your headline is accurate, but Toobin strikes me a poor example of the phenomenon. Onanism is a sin per some religious faiths, but it is a low caliber sin, one of which many if not most humans are guilty to some degree. It is a sin that pales in comparison to many other sins, one which shouldn’t be disproportionately punished. As a sin, it is a lower octave than deceit, to say nothing of violence, theft, or infidelity. It is of similar rank order to disrespecting one’s body, by overeating or drinking in excess (or cigar smoking). It is a form of self-indulgence—ungodly perhaps, but not destructive towards others. In a similar vein, just because theft is a sin (and a worse one than onanism by far) doesn’t make cutting off the thief’s hand an appropriate punishment.

    “Toobin’s act of self-pleasuring is not what he got fired for,” one might rightly retort. “He got fired for inappropriately exposing himself to colleagues on a Zoom call.” True. Indecent exposure is a crime. And not only is exposing oneself to unwilling spectators an antisocial and potentially trauma-inducing act, Toobin was supposed to be working at the time. However, there is no evidence Toobin exposed himself intentionally. At the end of the day this was negligence. He accidentally had his camera toggled on. Toobin is legally culpable for his substandard conduct, but his legal culpability is civil, not criminal. He is certainly fireable, but he’s not morally culpable to any high degree. Gladwell isn’t speaking a different language of morality, he’s saying Toobin, a bright guy with a notable career, doesn’t deserve to suffer undue consequences for this mistake. Gladwell would probably admit The New Yorker had to fire Toobin, but does Toobin deserve to be blackballed? Some consequences are due but what are they? Where is the limit? That’s the real question at hand (no pun intended) in Toobin’s case. Answering the question involves much more mundane issues like workplace norms, and assurances that the mistake won’t be made again once a reasonable time has passed and the dust is settled on the incident.

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    Old Dane

    Mr. Toobin committed a perverted act—masturbating in view while on a Zoom call—and some people are wondering why he got fired. For those who feel he shouldn’t have been fired, I’d be interested in seeing their lists of sexually-related behaviors during Zoom calls that would warrant dismissal.

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    Phil H

    What's shocking is that the very same people amazed at Toobin being fired for exposing himself, would have been screaming for his dismissal and "cancellation" had he, instead of pleasuring himself, been uttering the "N-word".

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      Todd T

      One act is intentional and malicious. The other isn’t. He should be fired for cause. Using that word says more about the person than what Toobin did.

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  9. Michael Miller

    I just laughed and thought seriously and looked up some vocabulary words I actually hadn't seen before......a very good read indeed. "Toobin Missile Crisis" Thanks Jonah

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  10. Jeff

    One of your best, sir. Well done!

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