2. To be clear: the vast majority (like 95%) of contemporary threats to speech come from the revanchist right (often aided by centrist elites, as is the norm in modern history): I mean "enemy of the people," Colin Kaepernick, harassment of activists, etc.
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3. But people on the left (save for Jurassic giants like Chomsky) have generally ceded the language of free speech to centrists & right because left thinks (not without reason) that free speech claims often deployed cynically by hypocrites, privileged elitists & defensive bigots
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4. Which gets us to ... God help us all ... the Letter. I promise I'll keep this short. Many of the criticisms of the Harper's letters focus on criticizing the signatories and venue. Those criticisms have merit.
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5. Is it true that Harper's is a strange venue for a letter on free speech, since it is run by a Richie Rich type plutocrat who capriciously fires editors and staff, sometimes for union busting purposes? Yep.pic.twitter.com/blgnjLk6c4
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6. Is it true that signatories like Bari Weiss and Cary Nelson manifestly don't believe in free speech for those who express solidarity with Palestinians or are actually Palestinian? Yep. Is it true Yascha Mounk cheerled an anti-democratic coup in Bolivia? Yep.
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7. Is it true that the person who writes those wizard books is an anti-trans bigot who is using free speech as a shield & diversion from criticisms of her horrible views? Yep.
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8. Principles are more important than people. The slave-owing Jefferson writing "all men are created equal" doesn't invalidate the words, rather the words are a useful tool for calling attention to Jefferson's hypocrisy and fighting the social system that he stood on top of.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
Maybe "all men are created equal" isn't the same as "It's wrong to cancel an editor who incompetently let a controversial high-stakes editorial go published w/o reading it, and past snafus like an anti-Semitic cartoon and an editorial that has the NYT facing Sarah Palin in court"
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– or did you have someone else in mind when writing this? Would've been pretty easy to link to examples!"pic.twitter.com/ShQBzzUTBk
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I cannot, cannot, cannot get past this in particular. I have rewritten this tweet countless times because I am trying to be fair and accurate, but the obscenity of it overwhelms me. Tom Cotton, free speech martyr. My God.
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I've specifically argued the opposite:https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/taibbi-cotton-free-speech/ …
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I understand that. But the reference is still in the letter.
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