You probably haven’t noticed, nor do you likely care, but the New York Times’ news staff has gone on a 24 hour strike.

1100 news staff workers who are members of the NYTimes Guild are staging the walkout in protest of having to work without a contract for over a year. The strikers are unsurprisingly asking for an increase in salary and benefits.

To our readers: We did not make this decision lightly. We are deeply committed to the success of the @nytimes. We also know that we produce our best work when we feel valued and are treated equitably. Thank you for standing by us today. pic.twitter.com/5Phd53ZeRP

— NYTimesGuild (@NYTimesGuild) December 8, 2022

I would give you a recap of the dispute, but frankly I don’t care and neither should you. There are few groups of individuals who deserve your compassion less than the striking New York Times writers. I would count the management of the Times and of course the attendees of the World Economic Forum self-congratulation-fest in Davos among them, but the Times staff writers are up there in term of privilege.

New York Times reporters are among the few at the top of the media food chain. Their job is not so much to report the news as to tell its readers what to think about it. They are primary Narrative shapers, and the world would be a substantially better place if the entire institution went down the drain.

Not that it will, of course. The Times is one of the few “news” institutions with a healthy balance sheet, although that is more driven by its non-core businesses such as fashion, food, and even games. The Times management has always been quite business savvy, and they managed to diversify their corporate products in time to avoid the economic disaster that has struck other newspapers.

Even such premier newspapers as The Washington Post struggle with the economics of news. Until a couple of decades ago newspapers were licenses to print money. And while many might think that the proliferation of cable news or the increasing ease of visiting alternative news sources on the Internet is what has been killing papers–those certainly haven’t helped–it was the appearance of Craigslist that doomed most newspapers.

Why? A primary source of revenue for most newspapers was classified ads. And with the appearance of Craigslist, which was free and searchable, newspapers lost that market.

Craigslist employs about 50 people. That’s it. These 50 people killed off newspapers, or nearly so.

I have to say I am enjoying the whinging of the Times reporters. Not because I think none of them deserve a raise. In fact, given the cost of living the average New York Times’ reporter’s salary is pretty pitiful, at about $100k. That would be good money in most places, but New York is among the most expensive places in the world to live.

But the Times is also a fundamentally corrupt organization, and its best paid reporters and columnists make a mint, and even the average Times reporter is in the job they aspired to for their entire career. They are at the pinnacle of power in their industry.

A great example of how ridiculous the complaints of the Times employees is Nikole Hannah-Jones, who tweeted out her support for her fellows and has joined the strike.

Without a contract, today I join 1,100 of my⁩ colleagues in walking out. We're asking readers to not engage in any @nytimes platforms today and stand with us on the digital picket line. Read local news. Listen to public radio. Break your Wordle streak. https://t.co/umJkQN1qVV

— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) December 8, 2022

Jones is one of the most privileged women in the world. She is the creator of the infamous “1619 Project,” a ridiculous and dangerous attack on American history that even the most Left-wing historians have attacked as distorting American history. Every single major historian in the country, and even the World Socialist website attacked the project as deceptive.

Most tellingly, Jones is striking despite not having written a word for the paper in over a year. A year.

That’s a damn good gig. And she is striking.

Fact: A railroad workers strike actually means something, because by withholding their labor they can bring the country to its knees. The NYT activists “digital picket line” will only help our country. In fact I hope they stay on strike forever.

— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) December 8, 2022

Henry Kissinger once quipped about the Iran-Iraq war that it was a shame that both sides couldn’t lose.

That is exactly how I feel about this dispute. Everybody involved deserves to lose, as that would be a massive win for the American people.

No institution more richly deserves to be destroyed than the Times. For over a century the paper has lied, covered up, supported America’s enemies, and pushed a socialist agenda that has created division and hate among Americans.

The only thing I regret about this situation is that it is temporary. At 24 hours it is far too short. I would have hoped for a years-long strike with no resolution.

But it’s not to be. Everybody involved knows that they are in too good a spot to risk killing the golden goose.