On one hand, I'm surprised to see a cosmopolitan weeb like Noah get so racist, but on the other hand being a weeb in and of itself is pretty adjacent to racism.

There is also the thing in the case of smith about not just being converted ideologically, but needing to be converted to keep your ‘market’ of being ‘liked’.

“Submitted for your approval, one Noah Smith…”

bsky.app/profile/goof...

Matt "one billion americans" Iglesias calling for the end of birthright citizenship is another in this vein

The sad part is that he’s still “merely” at “hypocritical European liberal” levels of racism: “I don’t agree with what America’s doing to the Hispanics, but they do have a point about the Muslims.”

Like it’s not so much that the far-right will immediately convert you to a full Nazi right away, but rather they flatter your own biases which you might have previously understood as contradictory to your primary beliefs.

"Has your friend, Matt Yglesias, ever mentioned to you in polite conversation how it's important to the future of the republic that liberals simply and easily acknowledge that people with his ethnic heritage are (on average, of course!) better at math than people with yours?"

Sharon are you implying that you would not want to hang out with Noah Smith irl? Because I know I’m excited for him to pull out his calipers and tell me why I’m an untermensch