1. To judge by the right-wing freakout over Kevin Williamson you'd think that firing writers over extremist views was unheard of. But in fact Williamson's previous home National Review has repeatedly done that.
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@MattGertz here usefully cites National Review's firing of John Derbyshire. But that's just the tip of iceberg.1 reply 11 retweets 86 likesShow this thread -
3. As the libertarian economist Murray Rothbard (himself an unperson at National Review after late 1950s) observed, National Review has a history of purges & excommunications.
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4. Some of the people NR purged were for good reasons (various anti-Semites & conspiracy nuts like Revilo Oliver). Others more dubious: John T. Flynn made unwelcome for criticizing Cold War militarism.
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5. Garry Wills was prolific National Review contributor in 1950s/1960s. Then he submitted article making conservative case against Viet Nam war & was excommunicated from magazine for decades.
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6. I review some history here and show that there are many Kevin Williamsons in the past who were fired by National Review:https://newrepublic.com/article/147826/national-reviews-struggle-ideological-diversity …
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Jeet Heer Retweeted Les Drama, More Depth 🦚
7. Remember when this happened there as a huge outcry about the death of tolerance and free speech. LOLhttps://twitter.com/LCS__AUTiger/status/982365367841542144 …
Jeet Heer added,
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8. Would the people who say "Atlantic shouldn't have fired Williamson" also say "National Review shouldn't have fired Joseph Sobran and John Derbyshire"? If not, why not?
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9. The argument for Williamson is he's supposedly a brilliant stylist. De gustibus non est disputandum. But Joseph Sobran was also a very stylish writer, one of the very best National Review has ever had.
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10. True, Sobran was an anti-Semite & a racist. But he wasn't fired for that. He was fired for criticizing Buckley. How is that defensible? Where was the movement calling for justice for Sobran?
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