Been thinking about this a lot, about how so much establishment discomfort (and the signatories to the Harpers letter are nothing if not "established") is in response to the *proliferation* of "free speech," not its muzzling. https://twitter.com/mikeduncan/status/1280578889576841219">https://twitter.com/mikedunca...

As messy and toxic as this proliferation can be, I& #39;m not sure I& #39;d trade its difficult but diverse clamour to go back to the good old days when "discourse" was 4 dudes penning stinging pamphlet attacks on each other, before guffawing over comradely cognacs in the evening.

I exaggerate, but there is a nostalgist component to the letter which suggests things have gone wrong and need to be put back, not coincidentally, to a time when the very institutions and interests repped by the signatories exerted more unquestioned influence than they do now.

That observation, along with the power imbalance that exists between any one of those writers (some of whom I admire) and the vast majority of their critics surely should have given (at least) some of them pause before buying a ticket for this particular tiny-violin concerto.

Yes, this thread is def going to bite me in the ass during my own inevitable cancellation, but as long as I& #39;m as rich as Rowling, I promise I& #39;ll go quietly.