Category Archives: censorship

Jimmy Fallon mocks explanatory caveats affixed to “problematic” films

August 20, 2020 – 3:45 pm

I understand that this spoof by Jimmy Fallon was put in the comments of my last post, about the now-obligatory “racism” warning given before the start of HBO’s reissue of the movie “Blazing Saddles”. (HBO did the same thing to “Gone with the Wind.”) This was sent by reader Simon, who added, “Once comedians start […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in movies, wokeness | Comments (24)

Black Marxist scholar deplatformed for emphasizing class over race

August 15, 2020 – 1:00 pm

The New York Times reports the latest instance of unhinged deplatforming (click on screenshot): Adolph Reed, Jr., a black antiracist and Marxist who has taught at four universities (now emeritus at Penn) was scheduled to give a talk in May to New York chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).  Unfortunately for him, it […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in capitalism, deplatforming, racism | Comments (39)

Think “cancel culture” is a fabrication? Think again.

July 19, 2020 – 9:15 am

This letter in Areo (click on screenshot) gets the point of the Harper’s letter in a way that many outraged people and offended intellectuals didn’t. The author, who asserts that he’s a “nobody”, isn’t really: his Areo bio says this: Angel Eduardo is writer, musician, photographer, and designer in New York City. He has been published in […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Authoritarian and Regressive Left, Authoritarian Left, Cancel Culture | Comments (91)

Douthat on Cancel Culture

July 15, 2020 – 9:30 am

Yes, Ross Douthat is a conservative columnist, but does that mean he can be totally ignored? I don’t think so, at least not this week, when he devotes his New York Times space to a discussion of “cancel culture” (CC), and provides as good a definition of the phenomenon as I’ve seen. He also admits, […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Cancel Culture | Comments (48)

A hard case to make a good law: the ideological impurity of David Starkey

July 14, 2020 – 12:15 pm

The original saying I paraphrase above, from Oliver Wendell Holmes, is “hard cases make bad law”, meaning you shouldn’t erect general principles based on extreme cases. But in this instance, regarding the defenestration of scholars who say things unpalatable to their peers, or odious things in general, these are the hard cases that should be […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in academic freedom, Colleges acting badly, colleges and universities, freedom of expression, freedom of speech | Comments (36)

Blocked in Pakistan—again!

July 14, 2020 – 8:20 am

Yes, WordPress once again blocked one of my posts, this time a Jesus and Mo cartoon, deemed as “blasphemous” by the Pakistani government. WordPress, eager to keep doing business in that censorious and faith-ridden country, gladly complied (see their note below). WordPress is of course an American company, but they’re glad to violate American freedom-of-speech […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Jesus and Mo | Comments (25)

Slate obliquely criticizes the Harper’s letter, blames Twitter for everything

July 13, 2020 – 10:15 am

I used to think of Slate and Salon as brother sites, with Salon being the slightly unhinged and woker younger brother and Slate being the more serious elder.  Well, Salon has gone down the drain of wokeness, and Slate is no longer nearly as interesting as it used to be, full as it is now […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Authoritarian and Regressive Left, Authoritarian Left, freedom of expression, freedom of speech | Comments (50)

Two approbations for The Letter, and a summary of the critics’ views

July 12, 2020 – 10:00 am

I thought I wouldn’t write any more about “The Letter”, which of course refers to the Letter in Harper’s and four other international venues decrying “cancel culture” and promoting open debate and free speech. That piece,”A letter on justice and open debate“, with 153 signers, now sports its own Wikipedia page! Over the past few days […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in Authoritarian and Regressive Left, Authoritarian Left, freedom of expression, freedom of speech | Comments (40)

Reddit bans “hate speech” but only against certain groups

June 30, 2020 – 10:45 am

As I’ve said before, I think one can make a reasonable case for designating certain crimes as “hate crimes”. For if groups like Jews, blacks, or gays are targeted repeatedly for their identity alone, then increasing the penalties for such crimes, if you can establish the reasons for the crime, will act as a deterrent […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Also posted in social media | Comments (71)

Once again: Did Andrew Sullivan’s column get censored by New York Magazine?

June 8, 2020 – 8:30 am

Just a quick update on a recent post of mine. The other day, after a strange tweet from Andrew Sullivan about his Friday column not appearing, speculation began that his column had been censored, presumably because he was going to write about the George Floyd protests, and, I suspect, about the difference between violent and […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (26)