Geoffrey MillerVerified account

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.

13/ What will be important, moving forward, is how Quillette processes this episode. They must not behave like the grievance studies industry behaved after they were hoaxed. They must be transparent, self-critical, and committed to learning from what has happened.

14/ Most importantly, they have to look within themselves and ask how much of the blame for the episode rests on a tunnel-visioned view or a self-defeating confirmation bias. They have to walk their talk, and we're all going to be watching to see if they do.