Criticism of George Soros is not by definition anti-Semitic
John Kass, the Chicago Tribune’s star columnist, was demoted last week. For years, his column has stood in the same spot once held by the iconic Mike Royko. No more.
In the latest case of woke newsroom reporters asserting authority over opinion columnists, members of the Chicago Tribune Guild wrote to editor-in-chief Colin McMahon that Kass’s position as the paper’s lead columnist endangers the paper’s overall credibility and the efforts of the newsroom to provide fair and diligent reporting. They demanded that Kass apologize for his “indefensible invocation of the Soros tropes.”
For those unaware of what “Soros tropes” are, the Forward helpfully explained that Kass’s column was a “diatribe against George Soros that invoked classic anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”
That was a surprise to me. I have been reading Kass at Jewish World Review for years and never detected anything remotely anti-Semitic. Kass is no Royko — no one could ever be. But he evokes the same common-sense, man-of-the-people flavor that made Royko a must-read every day for Chicagoans. He’s a product of one of Chicago’s ethnic neighborhoods, without a college degree, who has spent his entire adult life working in newsrooms.
Create a free account to keep reading.
