It's political correctness gone mad!
July 7, 2020 3:18 PM Subscribe
Harper's Letter on Justice and Open Debate A motley crew of intellectuals, writers and journalists, from Noam Chomsky to J.K. Rowling, Orlando Patterson to Margaret Atwood, Zephyr Teachout to Salman Rushdie have signed an open letter published by Harper's Magazine decrying the "stifling atmosphere" of contemporary public discourse, where "the free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted". It's being taken as a rebuke to "cancel culture", and it's going over like a lead balloon with its intended targets. More from In These Times.
This post was deleted for the following reason: We deleted this once already earlier; the Harper's piece sucks, like these pieces always suck, and while I get the instinct to want to highlight and note how sucky the sucky stuff is I think we'd be better off just not giving it extra attention. -- cortex
My letter about how open criticism of my published writing should stop happening is not having the desired effect.
posted by figurant at 3:24 PM on July 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by figurant at 3:24 PM on July 7, 2020 [2 favorites]
Well, now I have a handy list of self-entitled assholes I guess?
Some of these were kinda disappointing tbh, but at least now we know they're all tools.
posted by aramaic at 3:25 PM on July 7, 2020 [4 favorites]
Some of these were kinda disappointing tbh, but at least now we know they're all tools.
posted by aramaic at 3:25 PM on July 7, 2020 [4 favorites]
Quite a range of signatories, including some who seem widely respected on MeFi, such as Dahlia Lithwick, Michelle Goldberg, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Bill T. Jones, Zephyr Teachout, George Packer...
posted by PhineasGage at 3:27 PM on July 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by PhineasGage at 3:27 PM on July 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
Idiots mad they're being dunked on by Twitter write open letter, get dunked on by Twitter....
posted by axiom at 3:27 PM on July 7, 2020
posted by axiom at 3:27 PM on July 7, 2020
As I said when I posted this earlier, the letter is a load of bullshit, and the signatories should be ashamed of themselves. This is the ultimate demonstration of the incoherence of free speech "absolutism", and how it can be twisted to enable abuse and hate.
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:27 PM on July 7, 2020 [5 favorites]
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:27 PM on July 7, 2020 [5 favorites]
I guess this got removed before and that's why I didn't see it on here. Apologies if it's not something we want on here right now
posted by dis_integration at 3:28 PM on July 7, 2020
posted by dis_integration at 3:28 PM on July 7, 2020
The response from metafilter users on here so far seems to be trending towards the ad hominem...
posted by patrickdbyers at 3:29 PM on July 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by patrickdbyers at 3:29 PM on July 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
Quite a range of signatories, including some who seem widely respected on MeFi, such as Dahlia Lithwick, Michelle Goldberg, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Arlie Russell Hochschild, Bill T. Jones, Zephyr Teachout, George Packer...
...which is why this is so fucking disheartening. Some of it is being so open minded that their brains fell out, and some of it is because we've taught people in the US to be so uncritical about free speech that they will happily say that free speech means that we have to debate someone's humanity.
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:30 PM on July 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
...which is why this is so fucking disheartening. Some of it is being so open minded that their brains fell out, and some of it is because we've taught people in the US to be so uncritical about free speech that they will happily say that free speech means that we have to debate someone's humanity.
posted by NoxAeternum at 3:30 PM on July 7, 2020 [1 favorite]
An interesting sidelight: a Vox colleague of Matthew Yglesias posted on Twitter that she sent a letter of protest to the management.
posted by PhineasGage at 3:31 PM on July 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by PhineasGage at 3:31 PM on July 7, 2020 [3 favorites]
Ah yes, the New York Times columnists and best-selling authors toiling under the weight of Twitter shitposters telling them their opinions are bad and they should feel bad. Please read my column "Silenced All My Life", on the opinion page of a major national newspaper. These people really can't stand the proles telling them they suck.
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:32 PM on July 7, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by Ghostride The Whip at 3:32 PM on July 7, 2020 [8 favorites]
MAN, IF CONSERVATIVE VOICES ARE BEING SILENCED ON SOCIAL MEDIA. HOW COME THEY NEVER SHUT THE FUCK UP.
posted by Ouverture at 3:34 PM on July 7, 2020 [8 favorites]
posted by Ouverture at 3:34 PM on July 7, 2020 [8 favorites]
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posted by lazaruslong at 3:22 PM on July 7, 2020 [5 favorites]