On his blog:
Dear Members of the Political Left, there are literary mobsters who share our politics. You’ll see them rail against the censorship of their thoughts while organizing to censor other writers because of their politics. They do this underground. They get readings shut down. They get publishers to rescind the publication of books. They serve on award juries where certain books are automatically eliminated for consideration for major awards. It’s easy to spot the mobsters. They’re the ones who only talk about the censorship of their words. You’ll never hear them defend the rights of writers with different politics. Some of your favorite writers are mobsters. A few of you Substackers are running with these mobsters. I’ve read your posts. And here’s a distressing thing: Some of you don’t realize that you have become a mobster.
5 comments:
The Left is going to come down hard on this guy
Doesn't look like it. He's been criticized by some, but that's mostly a rehash of what he's received for the last 8 years; his post has also received support from at least a few fellow Substackers.
I think your idea that there's some "the Left" that acts as a unified force is a little outdated. The school-of-fish style mobbing we saw recently seems to have diminished, and all we're left with is the usual suspects writing at each other in niche spaces.
(My reply to Anonymous was not meant to be anonymous. Still unaccustomed to this internet thiin.)
I know, every time there's some Lefty backlash I'm told that the idea there's some "the Left" that acts as a unified force is a little outdated.
Considering that Alexie didn't unleash a Lefty backlash, just some criticism from a few bloggers, that "idea" seems correct.
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