Harper's Letter condemning 'cancel culture' draws debate on social media
What is the Harper's Letter about? It depends on who you ask.
Story at a glance
- Hundreds of prominent writers and scholars, many in academia, have signed an open letter “on justice and open debate.”
- The letter was published a day after author J.K. Rowling, one of the signatories, was criticized over comments about transgender people.
- At least one signer has since revoked their endorsement of the letter.
In a vacuum, the “Letter on Justice and Open Debate,” published online on Tuesday and intended to run in Harper’s Magazine’s October issue, is about just that. Using passive voice, the letter calls out the “dogma or coercion” of an unnamed community in response to “opposing views.”
“While we have come to expect this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture,” says the letter, identifying the authors as part of this group on the other end of the political spectrum — the left.
But while the letter condemns a general culture of intolerance, public shaming and ostracism, it is not entirely devoid of context. It references the recent protests demanding police reform and racial equality in the wake of George Floyd’s death and Donald Trump’s presidency, which it calls “a real threat to democracy.” And while the letter doesn’t name names, it certainly alludes to them.
"Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity; journalists are barred from writing on certain topics; professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class; a researcher is fired for circulating a peer-reviewed academic study; and the heads of organizations are ousted for what are sometimes just clumsy mistakes," said the letter.
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The letter bears the signatures of 150 writers and authors — although at least one of them has since revoked their support of the letter after all the names were published.
I did not know who else had signed that letter. I thought I was endorsing a well meaning, if vague, message against internet shaming. I did know Chomsky, Steinem, and Atwood were in, and I thought, good company.
— Jennifer Finney Boylan (@JennyBoylan) July 7, 2020
The consequences are mine to bear. I am so sorry.
Boylan was one of several transgender people to sign the letter, which was published one day after another signer, J.K. Rowling, criticized medical treatments for transgender people, which she said were "a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people."
Some people saw the "Harry Potter" author’s signature as a response to the public criticism she was facing then and had faced in the past for transphobic comments.
But the many signatories to the letter include people who treat trans identities as an intellectual parlor game at best and as a dark and terrible cloud about to descend over modern society at worst. It is apparently impossible to grasp that we are who we say we are.
— Emily VanDerWerff (@emilyvdw) July 8, 2020
Another signatory, Katha Pollitt, has also been criticized for her exclusion of transgender and gender nonbinary people when defining "women." On Twitter, Pollitt said that signing the letter wasn’t necessarily an endorsement of other signers’ beliefs.
none of the names would have put me off even though there are quite a few I disagree with about lots, and several I know little about. The other names are not that important to me. What's important is the principles expressed in the text.
— (((Katha Pollitt))) (@KathaPollitt) July 8, 2020
The diverse collection of signatures includes public figures with vastly different histories, from Salman Rushdie — against whom Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini has issued a fatwa calling for his assassination — to Cary Nelson — who once backed the University of Illinois’ decision to deny a job to a scholar active in the Israel boycott movement.
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Some welcomed the letter — especially those who saw themselves as victims of “cancel culture,” or the phenomenon of withdrawing support for public figures in response to objectionable actions or statements.
Markus Meechan, whose Twitter handle is "CountDankulaTV," was widely "cancelled" on social media after posting a video to YouTube where he trained a dog to raise its paw in a Nazi salute to the command “Sieg Heil,” and respond to the phrase "Do you wanna gas the Jews?"
Seriously, after nazi pug happened I tried to just get a regular job, every time I did you guys found my employer and harassed them into firing me.
— Count Dankula️ #BLM (@CountDankulaTV) July 8, 2020
That pawn shop also still owes me a weeks wages.
On social media, the letter prompted an open debate on cancel culture, with some arguing that it can cause real harm, while others argue that it is a myth.
Cancel culture is the suspension of due process and presumption of innocence so that the mob can serve as judge, jury, and executioner based on accusation alone without any examination of the underlying evidence.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 8, 2020
Trump does it.
The Media does it.
We do it.
But it has to stop.
A more simplified way to frame what's happening now: This isn't cancel culture. This is consequence culture. And some people hate the sudden accountability while others worry the focus will turn to them because they have much to be accountable for.
— Alisha Grauso (@AlishaGrauso) July 8, 2020
Either way, the hundreds of posts under the hashtags “CancelCulture” and others reveal a discussion that is alive and kicking.
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