Matt Taibbi Critiques New York Times' Reassessment of Marriage
Matt Taibbi, writing for Racket News, has criticized The New York Times for its recent re-evaluation of marriage, specifically referencing a piece that revisited a 2015 essay by novelist Elizabeth Curtis Sittenfeld. The original 2015 essay, published after the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case legalizing gay marriage, celebrated the institution. However, Sittenfeld, now divorced, provided an annotated update that Taibbi describes as a 'downgrade' of marriage. Taibbi highlights the Times' decision to run this piece alongside another article titled 'A Hospital Death Can Be a Good Death,' suggesting a broader trend of pessimism. He notes the absence of the word 'love' in Sittenfeld's original 2015 pro-marital proclamation and her comparison of a husband to a cardigan, which she later questioned in her updated piece. Taibbi argues that this reflects a cultural elite that demands others to be as miserable as they are, rather than a genuine shift in the need for companionship.
