Wow .. I applaud your approach to current events and the issues they introduce. My story is very similar to yours except I come from the "other" side. I've always been, as far back as I can remember, right-leaning - although I cannot explain why. My parents were both teachers. I, like you, have in recent years found myself strangely and increasingly uncomfortable by what I've been reading, watching and hearing from all sides. It just seems wrong on many levels. I don't let people tell me what I'm supposed to think whether they come from "my" side or not. I've always respected opposing views and felt honest discourse makes us all smarter, but that kind of .. Socratic, I guess you'd call it .. approach seems to be dying and I find that unsettling. Keep doing what you're doing, please, as people who care about finding THE truth, whether it conforms to their own beliefs / expectations or not, are a vanishing breed and needed now more than ever before. -SM
When Nat Hentoff passed 3 and a half years ago, I worried that no one would be left to fill his shoes in terms of defending free speech. And for about 3 years, four months, little happened to change my mind. Refreshing now, though, to see so many voices - particularly from the Left (even though I'm probably a centrist conservative, or, as the woke put it, a fascist) - rising up to condemn this new McCarthyism. And I fully realize - and appreciate - that is far more costly, professionally and often personally, for those of you on the Left to defend free speech. But we need all sides to speak as one on this particular issue.
So thank you for your eloquent, impassioned defense of free speech.
In your intro to this site, you write, "I’m not a big fan of performative activism as a way of boosting my own image. I know I probably should but I think it reads as a wee bit pathetic, the opposite of what it is supposed to do." No, no, no - trust your instincts. It's not only pathetic, it's contrary to everything else you've written here about the life of the mind, on which I think you're spot-on in terms of your intellectual approach (even if I disagree with your outcomes, which I'm sure I will - but so what?) Camus encapsulated it nicely when he wrote, "It should be pointed out for our own guidance in the West that the continual signing of manifestoes and protests is one of the surest ways of undermining the efficacy and dignity of the intellectual. There exists a permanent blackmail that we all know and that we must have the often solitary courage to resist."
Speaking of free speech ... https://www.city-journal.org/brown-university-letter-racism I LOVE this letter - for a lot of reasons. And if you get a chance you should read some other stuff this guy has written. It doesn't matter which way you lean, he makes some very interesting points that either side could find reasons to both love and hate - meaning he's probably on to something and definitely not for sale. He's kind of a political honey-badger ("Look at him .. he doesn't give a shit!"). He's also African-American .. or black .. or whatever ethnic identifier is the current choice of the thought police. In a perfect world that wouldn't matter but in THIS world you need the proper credentials (street cred) to say anything at all - especially if it varies even slightly from the BLM-sanctioned list of acceptable phrases - which changes daily: "What we said yesterday has been deemed insufficiently inflammatory and is therefore now considered racist. Failure to comply will result in immediate CANCELLATION!"
Wow .. I applaud your approach to current events and the issues they introduce. My story is very similar to yours except I come from the "other" side. I've always been, as far back as I can remember, right-leaning - although I cannot explain why. My parents were both teachers. I, like you, have in recent years found myself strangely and increasingly uncomfortable by what I've been reading, watching and hearing from all sides. It just seems wrong on many levels. I don't let people tell me what I'm supposed to think whether they come from "my" side or not. I've always respected opposing views and felt honest discourse makes us all smarter, but that kind of .. Socratic, I guess you'd call it .. approach seems to be dying and I find that unsettling. Keep doing what you're doing, please, as people who care about finding THE truth, whether it conforms to their own beliefs / expectations or not, are a vanishing breed and needed now more than ever before. -SM
Thank you. I am baffled that many more people are not noticing what is happening. So grateful for those who do.
When Nat Hentoff passed 3 and a half years ago, I worried that no one would be left to fill his shoes in terms of defending free speech. And for about 3 years, four months, little happened to change my mind. Refreshing now, though, to see so many voices - particularly from the Left (even though I'm probably a centrist conservative, or, as the woke put it, a fascist) - rising up to condemn this new McCarthyism. And I fully realize - and appreciate - that is far more costly, professionally and often personally, for those of you on the Left to defend free speech. But we need all sides to speak as one on this particular issue.
So thank you for your eloquent, impassioned defense of free speech.
Thank you and I agree. This is America, for goodness sake.
In your intro to this site, you write, "I’m not a big fan of performative activism as a way of boosting my own image. I know I probably should but I think it reads as a wee bit pathetic, the opposite of what it is supposed to do." No, no, no - trust your instincts. It's not only pathetic, it's contrary to everything else you've written here about the life of the mind, on which I think you're spot-on in terms of your intellectual approach (even if I disagree with your outcomes, which I'm sure I will - but so what?) Camus encapsulated it nicely when he wrote, "It should be pointed out for our own guidance in the West that the continual signing of manifestoes and protests is one of the surest ways of undermining the efficacy and dignity of the intellectual. There exists a permanent blackmail that we all know and that we must have the often solitary courage to resist."
Speaking of free speech ... https://www.city-journal.org/brown-university-letter-racism I LOVE this letter - for a lot of reasons. And if you get a chance you should read some other stuff this guy has written. It doesn't matter which way you lean, he makes some very interesting points that either side could find reasons to both love and hate - meaning he's probably on to something and definitely not for sale. He's kind of a political honey-badger ("Look at him .. he doesn't give a shit!"). He's also African-American .. or black .. or whatever ethnic identifier is the current choice of the thought police. In a perfect world that wouldn't matter but in THIS world you need the proper credentials (street cred) to say anything at all - especially if it varies even slightly from the BLM-sanctioned list of acceptable phrases - which changes daily: "What we said yesterday has been deemed insufficiently inflammatory and is therefore now considered racist. Failure to comply will result in immediate CANCELLATION!"