On Writing Around Censors

One of the costs of a censorious society is clarity of writing, and consequently of thought. If one must write, evasive thinking is an easier way to dodge cancellation than purely evasive writing. “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” That’s Francis Bacon, and probably the best thing he wrote (unless it’s The Tempest after all). The act of writing is exacting, and it improves with the care and precision of the effort. But this means—as illustrated by the hubbub around the New York Times’s treatment of Scott Alexander, the pseudonymous blogger behind Slate Star Codex—that the opposite is somehow true, too, and oblique writing, carefully and precisely done, can clarify thinking and maybe even uncover truth.

Ther was an NYT editorial that referenced the Codex. I read the underlying Codex article on "Outgroups"...several times. It was magnificent.

The writer is clearly on the left, but he was honest enough to recognize the truly caustic and even dangerous mindset in his "Blue Tribe." In that Codex article (which the writer noted was one of his most read), he called out this danger and vowed not to be part of it.

Perhaps, among other things, that's why the NYT threatened him with the doxxing though as SunkenCiv noted correctly, Why he thought being interviewed by that DNC talking point regurgitator was a good idea is beyond me.

I thought the key phrase in this article was

We’re building something in the clouds, and though that’s clear enough to the watchmen, their efforts to stop it only force everyone to fly that much higher.

This is why FR remains one of the last good places online, and why I suspect at some point these watchmen will come after FR. Many posts on FR aren't cloud-reaching, and that's fine...we have dayjobs. But part of the excitement of FR is that you never know what cloud-reaching treasure is on the homepage, or via a Ping list when you see that greatest of dopamine triggers...

New posts to you

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.