Quote of the Day (Nicholas Kristof, on the Counterproductive Tendency Towards Renaming)

“I…worry that the liberal penchant for renaming things is counterproductive. When we employ terms like ‘Latinx’ and ‘A.A.P.I.’ or we fret that it is offensive to refer to ‘the French’ or ‘the college-educated’ or we cite ‘people with uteruses’ rather than ‘women,’ the result is meant to be inclusive but actually leaves many Americans feeling bewildered and excluded. The way to win elections is to engage voters rather than wag fingers at them.”—Opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof, “In the Age of Trump, It’s Hard to Be Humble,” The New York Times, June 18, 2023

Quote of the Day (Nicholas Kristof, on What We Lost With the Decline of Labor Unions)

“For all their shortcomings, unions midwifed the birth of the middle class in the United States. The period of greatest union strength from the late 1940s through the 1950s was the time when economic growth was particularly robust and broadly shared. Most studies find that at least one-fifth of the rise in income inequality in the United States is attributable to the decline of labor unions.

“Unions were also a formidable political force, and it’s perhaps not a surprise that their enfeebling has been accompanied by a rise in far-right policies that subsidize the wealthy, punish the working poor and exacerbate the income gap.”— Nicholas Kristof, “Trump’s War on Workers,” The New York Times, Aug. 11, 2019

Quote of the Day (Nicholas Kristof, on the Modern Form of Bank Robbery)

“The banks have gotten away with privatizing profits and socializing risks, and that’s just another form of bank robbery.”— Nicholas Kristof, “America’s ‘Primal Scream,’” The New York Times, October 16, 2011

Quote of the Day (Nicholas Kristof, on the Vatican and the Catholic Church)

“[W]hen you read about the scandals, remember that the Vatican is not the same as the Catholic Church. Ordinary lepers, prostitutes and slum-dwellers may never see a cardinal, but they daily encounter a truly noble Catholic Church in the form of priests, nuns and lay workers toiling to make a difference.”—Nicholas Kristof, “A Church Mary Can Love,” The New York Times, Sunday, April 18, 2010