Jay Nordlinger of National Review Online documents one case of damaging wokeness in action.
You will want to get to know David Mastio a bit. He’s a veteran journalist, and an excellent one. A true one. Until last summer, he was the deputy editorial-page editor of USA Today. Now he is the executive editor of Straight Arrow News. … Dave was hounded out of USA Today, basically, by wokeness. …
… Dave Mastio was born in Belgium. He lived in ten American states before he graduated from college. He has worked at the Detroit News, the Virginian-Pilot, the Washington Examiner, the Washington Times, and now Straight Arrow News. But USA Today has been his home, really. …
… Sometime last year, a group of activists at USA Today decided that “pregnant women” would no longer do — it had to be “pregnant people.” (I am giving Dave’s account.) This struck Dave as absurd. And he is an opinion writer, so he opined. He tweeted something like, “The people who are pregnant are also called ‘women.’” Hell broke loose among the activists — on the diversity committee, specifically. The activists demanded that Dave be fired.
What is this “diversity committee”? It’s a bunch of recent college graduates, says Dave, who decide what may and may not be said. I myself think of a word from the past (Cold War relic that I am): commissariat.
Dave was not fired, as the activists demanded. He was demoted. Also, the paper wanted to cut his pay by $30,000. But the prospect of a lawsuit stayed their hand. Dave bided his time at the paper for as long as he had to — he has a family to support. Then he landed at Straight Arrow News. …
… Dave Mastio did not really enjoy any support at the paper, private or public. There used to be centrists and conservatives at USA Today, he says. But they have taken buyouts over the years.
