Excellent letter on Freedom of speech to appear in Harper's Mag

[Imnobody4]

harpers.org/a-letter-on-justice-and-open-debate/
Signed by JKR, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie among many others.
Are more people starting to say enough?

Some fabulous names on that. Heartening stuff.

It's a really good letter.

It is a very good letter I think.

Interestingly, it is also signed by Deirdre McCloskey who was one of the transwomen who was central to the smearing and persecution of Michael Bailey over his writing The Man Who Would be Queen, which mentioned autogynophelia. (I don't have a comment on that, I just noticed the name)

This is fantastic (the irony of Margaret Atwood signing it after today lol)

The way to defeat bad ideas is by exposure, argument, and persuasion, not by trying to silence or wish them away. We refuse any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other.

Yep.

That's quite an impressive list of names - not that I love their work, more that they're really well established and influential - Martin Amis, Noam Chomsky, Michael Ignatieff, Gloria Steinem...

I also love the way JK Rowling doesn't have any job title after her name. Needs no introduction!

Interesting Deirdre McCloskey and Jennifer Finney Boylan signed it. Are they having a change of heart? Is this a pull-back-the-crazy-train-before- it-derails-the-entire- movement moment?

That is an excellent letter, with some really impressive signatories.

Atul Gawande too. One of my favourite people.

I think the TRA attacks on free speech have been incredibly damaging to their cause. For every 1 calm non threatening transwoman there have been 10 intolerant TRAs trying to get people sacked and sent to Coventry and threatening to attack women. Transsexuals who want to change gender then get on with their jobs/ lives were making progress until the males who want to identify as women but not change their male appearance and spend all day on Twitter attacking women joined in

That's an interesting list.

A mix of people I'd have expected and those I wouldn't. Many of those names are familiar; the Reason crowd. But some aren't, or are, and haven't previously associated themselves with that current discourse.

Malcolm Gladwell

A single retraction so far, from a trans signatory. Let's hope that's it.

It seems like an odd thing to withdraw your nam from. It's pretty clear what it's saying.

"Interesting Deirdre McCloskey and Jennifer Finney Boylan signed it. Are they having a change of heart? Is this a pull-back-the-crazy-train-before- it-derails-the-entire- movement moment?"

Jennifer Finley Boylan has apologised for signing it, saying she wasn't aware of some of the other names signing it

Eclectic mix of writers, academics and journalists there. There's a handful of very well known writers but not a truly impressive number, I'd suggest.

I wonder who actually penned it and who had the idea, and how it was shared between them all ... and who didn't sign it, of course!

@BentBastard

"Interesting Deirdre McCloskey and Jennifer Finney Boylan signed it. Are they having a change of heart? Is this a pull-back-the-crazy-train-before- it-derails-the-entire- movement moment?"

Jennifer Finley Boylan has apologised for signing it, saying she wasn't aware of some of the other names signing it

Seems a bit contradictory.

It's weird that it's being dubbed transphobic purely by virtue of being signed by JKR when it doesn't at any point mention trans or sex

From the BBC:

One signatory - Matthew Yglesias, co-founder of liberal news analysis website Vox - was rebuked by a colleague on Tuesday for putting his name to the letter.

Vox critic at large Emily VanDerWerff, a trans woman, tweeted that she had written a letter to the publication's editors to say that Yglesias signing the letter "makes me feel less safe at Vox".

But VanDerWerff said she did not want Yglesias to be fired or apologise because it would only convince him he was being "martyred".

The irony is eating itself...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-53330105

I think it's pretty weasely tbh.

The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful ally in Donald Trump, who represents a real threat to democracy

This for example- the "forces of illiberalism" so far as free speech is concerned are the intolerant left" - not the right.

But resistance must not be allowed to harden into its own brand of dogma or coercion—which right-wing demagogues are already exploiting. The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides

Who are these "right wing demagogues" are they thinking of the likes of Ben Shapiro or Jordan Peterson or even Douglas Murray? Shapiro is very right wing but he has been consistent in his defence of free speech. Peterson obviously annoys the hell out of the wokerati in Canada but , like JKR, has reached levels of saleability that he's safe.

The "intolerant climate" they are referring to has been created by the left- not the right.

Gosh!
Not signing it pretty much says as much as signing it, or more. Not a word about trans, which is fantastic, because we all know what is being said between the lines.

It's in the Mail with an explicit link to JKR:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8500911/JK-Rowling-joins-150-authors-academics-calling-end-cancel-culture.html

More than 150 academics and writers including the likes of Harry Potter, Margaret Atwood and Salman Rushdie have called for an end to 'cancel culture'.

Just weeks after facing a barrage of abuse for sharing her views on trans issues, the Harry Potter author has joined Ms Atwood, author of The Handmaid's Tale, who tweeted her support for the trans community.

Interesting that they bring up Atwood's confusion...

White lefty men don't think cancel culture is a thing

This has just been discussed on R4 Today programme

@DidoLamenting

I think it's pretty weasely tbh.

The forces of illiberalism are gaining strength throughout the world and have a powerful ally in Donald Trump, who represents a real threat to democracy

This for example- the "forces of illiberalism" so far as free speech is concerned are the intolerant left" - not the right.

But resistance must not be allowed to harden into its own brand of dogma or coercion—which right-wing demagogues are already exploiting. The democratic inclusion we want can be achieved only if we speak out against the intolerant climate that has set in on all sides

Who are these "right wing demagogues" are they thinking of the likes of Ben Shapiro or Jordan Peterson or even Douglas Murray? Shapiro is very right wing but he has been consistent in his defence of free speech. Peterson obviously annoys the hell out of the wokerati in Canada but , like JKR, has reached levels of saleability that he's safe.

The "intolerant climate" they are referring to has been created by the left- not the right.

The letter has both right-of-centre and left-of-centre signatories. To be honest I am not too bothered whether they got the balance of blame right (though that may be because I'm left-of-centre most of the time)... The piece is being seen as a strong statement defending free speech, the free press and free universities and was presented as such in a piece on the Radio 4 Today programme, which described it as an attack on 'cancel culture'. Anne Applebaum was interviewed and noted her hope that the letter would cause university administrators or newspaper publishers to grow a bit of a spine.