Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
Yes, you know by now that the statue of Thomas Jefferson that used to stand in the council chamber of New York’s City Hall has been removed, for Jefferson enslaved many other humans. No matter that his statue depicted him a writer, probably of the Declaration of Independence; his possession of slaves (around 600 of … Continue reading Lionel Shriver decries the demonization of Thomas Jefferson
Don’t expect much today; I’m starting to take it easy on Saturday. After all, I’m retired, for crying out loud. I will, however, call your attention to a new piece by author Lionel Shriver at Prospect Magazine, “Writers blocked: how the new call-out culture is killing fiction“. You’ll remember Shriver from two years ago, when, at … Continue reading Lionel Shriver on the new censorship
Four days ago I reported on a piece author Lionel Shriver published in the Spectator: a criticism of UK Penguin/Random House’s (PRH) striving for diversity in its authors and employees in the form of a questionnaire. The piece, called “When Diversity Means Uniformity,” accused PRH of being “drunk on virtue”, and pointing out two problems … Continue reading Lionel Shriver removed as judge of literary competition for questioning a diversity algorithm
Two years ago there was a big kerfuffle at the Brisbane Writers Festival (BWF) when writer Lionel Shriver gave a talk asserting the right of all authors to write about “marginalized”—or any—groups, which is a violation of many who cry “cultural appropriation” at that stuff. As I wrote at the time, Not long ago Yasmin Abdel-Magied, … Continue reading Two more authors banned from Brisbane Writers Festival
Author Lionel Shriver, subject of several posts on this site, has become a vociferous opponent of the claim that authors cannot “culturally appropriate” the lives of those who don’t share their gender or ethnicity. She’s also spoken out against literary censorship of the kind that would ban Huckleberry Finn from American public schools. Now a … Continue reading “Drunk on virtue”: Penguin Random House’s new diversity rules
This 2015 Pew poll was mentioned by Lionel Shriver in her piece about the policing of literature tthat I discussed the other day. It shows a surprising degree of censoriousness in various Western countries. Pew asked people in the U.S. and Europe the following question: We asked whether people believe that citizens should be able … Continue reading 4 in 10 American Millennials, and half of Europeans, think that government should be able to ban “hate speech”
Since I can’t brain today, I’ll just give you some light reading: in this case, two short articles. The first, by author Lionel Shriver (if you don’t remember her battles against cultural appropriation, go here, here, and here), appears in the Spectator, and is called “Millennials don’t fear censorship because they plan on doing all … Continue reading Two easy pieces
Not long ago Yasmin Abdel-Magied, a Sudanese/Australian/Muslim writer, described in the Guardian how offended she became when author Lionel Shriver, speaking at the Brisbane Writers Festival, defended the right of authors to write fiction about “marginalized” characters (i.e., people of color and others seen as oppressed). Abdel-Magied, who came off as someone unable to tolerate … Continue reading Lionel Shriver defends “literary appropriation” and calls out the Repressive Left
