Geoffrey MillerVerified account

6/ There was a sense that we could make a difference, maybe even play a role in slowing down what seemed like a vast army of social justice warriors fanning out across the culture. People started paying attention to us, and to Quillette.

7/ There seemed to be some momentum. IDW figures became mini-celebrities, mainstream media started writing about us, and we started attracting attention from all across the spectrum, from the alt-right to the hard left, and Quillette became a lightning rod for all of it.

8/ I assume Claire Lehmann and her editors knew they had a big target on their back -– she and her publication were the living breathing embodiment of the IDW to the academics, progressive media outlets, and countless Twitter accounts who were looking for blood.

9/ It didn't help that the IDW's solidarity had started to fray a little over 2019. As always there were egos involved, and there was also the inescapable fact that any movement comprised of such enormous political diversity is going to be vulnerable to squabbling.

10/ There was also a sense that the momentum was slowing. The IDW had always been mostly a reaction -– to the excesses of the regressive left. But as the campus free speech crisis began ebbing & new outrages became fewer and farther between, the pages of Quillette seemed thinner.

11/ Quilette's enemies had now become more diverse -– and included most recently the vitriolic and blustery IQ-denier Naseem Nicholas Taleb -– and more strident. IDW personality parody accounts were flourishing and specialized anti-Quillette rhetoric had emerged online.

12/ So, the the “DSA Is Doomed” hoax happened at a moment when Quillette seems to have already been pushed back on its heels a bit. The timing of it was not ideal.