Gerald Marzorati, assistant managing editor at The Times and editor of The Times Magazine, is takingquestions [1]this week on nytimes.com. Asked about the magazine's ideology, Marzorati answered with self-congratulation about his fellow pro-immigrant, gay-marriage supporting, big-spending New Yorkers (just don't call them liberals):
Call it Urban Modern. That is, I think it reflects not a left-or-right POLITICAL ideology but a geographical one, the mentality of the place it is created: 21st Century Manhattan.
So: The Magazine reflects a place where women have professional ambition, where immigrants are welcome, and where gay men and lesbians can be themselves (if not marry, yet). The Magazine also reflects a place where being rich is not a bad thing, where fashion is not a sign of superficiality and where individualism is embraced. Here, arguing is not bad manners. Here, a chief way of loving your hometown is criticizing it: For, say, not doing enough for those (children, the poor, the homeless) who are most vulnerable....More generally, we reflect a place where change is not a threat, where doubt and complexity are more TRUE than certainty, and where most everything non-criminal is tolerated - except a bad haircut.