I'm not sure Occam's Razor helps here, since to me the simplest possible explanation is that people just don't like poetry as much as they used to. I'm not saying I agree with this, mind you, only that it's the simplest hypothesis if you're looking to Occam.
Also, I'm not convinced that the editorial board of the NY Times meant to take a stand or even cared much about this particular column of print out of the many thousands it produces. It's just one stupid op-ed, after all, and so slight and vapid that it does not call upon anyone to do anything other than to soak up its author's pretentious claptrap. My problem with the NY Times wasn't that they let someone espouse this view, but that they let someone do it so poorly, with so little research or insight into the poetry scene, apparently based simply on the author's own uneducated gut feelings.
Still, I'm absolutely certain that not a single mind was changed by what he wrote. Not a single poetry reader has stopped reading it, and not a single poet has stopped writing it.
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