New York Times' editor Bari Weiss' article "Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web" was a portrait of a group of diverse intellectuals who have formed "an alliance of heretics that is making an end run around mainstream conversation."

The "Dark Web" is composed of intellectuals whose only common point of agreement is that ideas should be debated freely. Here is the website.

Among those mentioned in the Weiss article: neuroscientist Sam Harris, Eric Weinstein, mathematician and managing director of Thiel Capital;  comedian Dave Rubin, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson; Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Christina Hoff Sommers .  Quite an interesting bunch of renegades.

This is how they are portrayed at the opening of the article:

Here are some things that you will hear when you sit down to dinner with the vanguard of the Intellectual Dark Web: There are fundamental biological differences between men and women. Free speech is under siege. Identity politics is a toxic ideology that is tearing American society apart. And we’re in a dangerous place if these ideas are considered “dark.”

The subhead on the Weiss story asked of these people's conversation, " Should we be listening?"

From the left comes a resounding answer,: No, no, no. We should not be listening.

Ironically, they did read the Bari Weiss article, which was a top-trending New York Times story, but it made them very, very angry at Ms. Weiss.  Kyle Smith reports in National Review ("Who's Afraid of Bari Weiss?") of the vulgar and outraged response to Weiss' reportage.

Studded with the F-word, It is the usual eloquence we have come to expect from foes of free speech. For some reason, Smith's story won't let me quote from it, but I highly recommend you read it. He coins the term Weissophobia to capture the outrage against Weiss for merely reporting on the existence of these heretics.

Why are they so angry? Smith says that it's because she did two really scary things: She came up with "a really cool name" for a group of intellectuals the left wants to silence, and two, the other is that it reminds them that are "paths into the castle of public opinion" where they do not serve as gatekeepers.