It used to be that one resigned from one’s clubs when one had committed some act of moral turpitude, or had been caught in an embarrassing situation unbefitting a gentleman. Now, membership in these clubs (the all-male ones, and those seen as too racially homogeneous) is perceived as an act of moral turpitude itself, and in order to enter public life, one must resign from them. Something’s wrong here… The bullies at the New York Times (led by the great big one himself, Howell Raines) are partially to blame, but so are the cowards who give in to the bullying.