Linton Weeks

On Thursday, NPR's Linton Weeks spotlighted several extreme proponents of eliminating gender differences and hinted at support for such an endeavor: "In a country with the ideal of treating everyone fairly and equitably, do we really need to know if someone is a boy or a girl?" Weeks portrayed the cause as just part of the normal progression of society: "As history shows, one enterprise in which Americans excel is the breaking down of divisions."

The correspondent began his article for NPR.com, "The End of Gender?" (which was the most viewed article on the website on Thursday), with three "signposts" which supposedly pointed at an end of the concept of gender:

Washington Post writer Linton Weeks recently wrote a fascinating big-picture essay about the long, sad decline of sincerity and sentiment in America, symbolized by the public loathing of the 1975 Morris Albert pop song “Feelings.” It wasn’t merely the whoa-whoa-whoa chorus that drove the criticism, he suggested, but the mere act of the singer putting the heart on the proverbial sleeve that became phony, cheesy, hopelessly square.

It’s been said before that we live in an age of irony, and irreverence is king. But Weeks added the irresistible term “Snark Ages” to characterize it: “The revolt against sincerity -- the Snark Ages, still upon us -- began as a rebellion against corny, over-the-top displays of emotion in movies, songs, TV shows. But the rebellion spiraled out of control, and any public expression of emotion, no matter how sincere, was a target for mockery. Old war movies and romantic dramas, taken seriously the first time around, were consumed by a younger generation as farce -- as ‘camp.’”

Update posted at bottom

Granted, the Washington Post's Style section can get away with lighter, fluffier fare than the A-section, but profiling a man who heads a $16,000-annual budget "youth rights" organization? That's exactly what staffer Linton Weeks presented Post readers with his November 27 Style section front pager, "Age Is Just a Number."

"Youth Rights Advocate Tries to Break Down Barriers to Adulthood," the subhead matter-of-factly declared of Alex Koroknay-Palicz, the 26-year-old executive director of the shoestring-budget National Youth Rights Association.

Although Weeks mentioned in passing that Koroknay-Palicz rents his office space from Common Cause, he failed to mention that organization's leftist bent.