A comprehensive list of actions that your organization is required to take if it is being targeted by Christopher Rufo
Legal advice from your friends at the White Pages
As you may have heard, the problem with National Public Radio is that it’s too woke! I assume this is the primary topic that autorworkers and CNAs are talking about on factory floors and in hospital break rooms.
“Hey Maria, you look down, what’s bothering you?”
“I just couldn’t sleep last night knowing that somewhere in Adams Morgan, there might be an associate producer at National Public Radio who voted for Elizabeth Warren.”
“I have no words. I’m so, so sorry. Is there anything I can do?”
“You can subscribe to a reactionary Substack that is disproportionally concerned with whether students at elite New York private schools are required to attend DEI trainings.”
“For you, anything.”
As is always the case when somebody on the Acela corridor says the word “woke” three times, America’s favorite populist folk hero, Christopher Rufo, has emerged out of his cryogenic chamber made of Ayn Rand books to demand that a woman be fired. In a rare commitment to equity, this time the subject of his ire is a White woman, NPR President, Katherine Maher. Her crime? Woke tweets, of course. The number one cause of death in working class communities across the country.
Now, I have already shared my thoughts about Mr. Rufo as a public figure (I find him incredibly boring), but it’s clear that there remains some confusion, amongst America’s legacy institutions, as to their legal requirements whenever he starts harrumphing around on the-website-that-isn’t-Twitter about how many children die each year because some people have “In This House We…” signs in their yard.
With that in mind, I have conducted a comprehensive analysis of all federal, state and municipal laws concerning your institutions’s legal and fiduciary requirements when and if Christopher Rufo demands that you fire a woman on his behalf. The results of that analysis are presented below.
What you are legally required to do when Christopher Rufo demands that you fire the woman in charge of your institution.
Absolutely nothing.
No really.
He’s just a guy who makes elite-coded legacy institutions nervous, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear.
He has no formal or institutional power. Like, he’s not OSHA. You don’t have to make your employees wash your hands of wokeness if he say’s so.
On the day that Christopher Rufo comes for your institution, you are allowed to wake up, tell the people who are most important to you that you love them, try to do your job well, take a nice walk and end the day by doing something you enjoy.
Oh, and you don’t have to fire anybody!
He doesn’t get to tell you to do that!
How media institutions should cover Christopher Rufo’s demands that women he doesn’t like lose their jobs:
You shouldn’t!
You see, he’s very silly.
You are welcome to cover literally anything else.
But what if other conservatives are also repeating Christopher Rufo’s demands that you fire a woman and/or take seriously his commands to fire a woman:
That sounds like a real bummer way for all those people to be spending their wild and precious lives.
Like, I can’t imagine that makes their communities a better place or makes them feel more whole inside.
I’m sorry… you were asking if you should do what they say? I think you know the answer!
End notes:
Truth be told I have wasted a lot of time in my life engaged in performative political jostling that didn’t actually make the world a better place. I don’t recommend it, so I wrote a book about how I found my way out of that nonsense. f you have the means, I’d love for you to buy a copy. It’s a nice antidote to blustery dudes like Christopher Rufo because it’s not about winning arguments, it’s about how I love you all and I think we deserve more from one another.
These days, I train people to organize for justice in their communities, especially majority White communities. I’m literally running trainings on that as we speak. You should register if you want to know more!
Oh, and this week, I was on the Slate “How To!” podcast talking about both of those things: the book and the organizing. It’s a really good episode.
(whom I will be hanging out with on Friday for a book club zoom party) is a brilliant interviewer and I couldn’t imagine a better person to share the space with than , whose newsletter is great and well worth a subscribe.Paid subscribers: I’m on the road tomorrow, coming back from book tour fun in Omaha. Unless I’m really making good time, I’m betting that I won’t do the weekly community discussion. If that’s the case, I’ll miss you all and see you next week.
Want a song of the week? Let’s do it. You know who is much better at critiquing institutional liberalism than Christopher Rufo? People who are actually concerned with building a more just world. Let’s listen to some Phil Ochs!
As always, the song of the week playlist is on both Apple Music and Spotify, though I’m behind on updating. Blame book promotion!
You make this sound so breezy--as if the simple course of action is just ignore the bully. I can't stop comparing what I've read here to this post: https://aubreyhirsch.substack.com/p/thats-how-it-works-when-youre-a-woman , which is closer to my lived experience.
I would love to hear your take on this!