“What’s wrong with being sexy?” –Malcolm Gladwell

Yet another affluent guy who pretends not to understand the concept of “consent” when defending another affluent white guy getting fired for sexual misconduct:

Malcolm Gladwell, one of the magazine’s best known contributors, said in an interview: “I read the Condé Nast news release, and I was puzzled because I couldn’t find any intellectual justification for what they were doing. They just assumed he had done something terrible, but never told us what the terrible thing was. And my only feeling — the only way I could explain it — was that Condé Nast had taken an unexpected turn toward traditional Catholic teaching.” (Mr. Gladwell then took out his Bible and read to a reporter an allegory from Genesis 38 in which God strikes down a man for succumbing to the sin of self-gratification.)

Imagine thinking, or pretending to think, that the issue was that Toobin was masturbating per se. And while we’re here, despite having the practice named after him Onan wasn’t actually masturbating in Genesis 38. And yet Gladwell will be paid roughly the GDP of the Dominican Republic this year for sharing his takes with the world. What a country!