Ah, Freedom
when will we do something about this particular cancel culture
There was an essay version of this, but honestly I don’t think any essay writing is necessary - the systematic silencing of Palestinian and Palestine-supporting voices is happening, no one is even pretending that it’s not happening, and it’s a direct threat to the basic principles of free expression that are supposed to apply to everyone and every topic, no matter what. A bunch of the people who have dined out on free speech for years are saying nothing because Zionism is more dear to them than civil liberties, and now it’s time for all of us to state our basic allegiances when it comes to free expression. I include that snippet from an interview with an Israeli settler because it’s an unusually frank statement of what many people support without explicitly saying so: that Palestinians must live under Israeli rule without basic democratic rights, in perpetuity. You either think everyone who lives under the power of a government should have democratic representation in that government, or you don’t. A principle is a thing you believe all the time. For fifteen years I’ve defended the free speech rights of people I deplore. Some supposed defenders of free expression cracked in a day. You believe in it all the time, or you don’t believe in it at all. It’s up to you.
I really don't know how much longer I can continue to write this newsletter when I have so little respect for its readers. The majority of people here have created a mental world in which their enemies never have their rights violated, where the immense effort to silence pro-Palestinian voices in the world can never actually be looked in the face for what it is. I can't live like this. I don't want your readership and I don't want your money.
I don’t understand why people try to make this more complicated than it is. You believe in it or you don’t. If you do, you believe it applies to your worst enemies. If you don’t, don’t f*cking pretend you do.