Let
me preface my post with the following:
Milo
Yiannopoulos --who is still banned from Twitter -- is not someone I would ever be friends with. He’s not a nice guy. He spews extremist views and seems to offend
everyone, both liberals and conservatives.
However, he has the right to have his book published and his publisher
has the obligation, once it committed to publishing his book, to publish
it. To learn of the protests against Simon
& Schuster was outrageous, as the First Amendment needs to be protected and
supported. To now learn the publisher
capitulated, amidst new evidence that he shows acceptance or tolerance for
underage sex with an adult, is disheartening.
They
only wanted to publish his book because they thought it would be profitable. He has a big following. He’s the next Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and
Pat Buchannan – all haters who have had books published. There are plenty of books published. There are plenty of books that hit best-seller
lists that slander a variety of races, religions, sexual preferences and
politics. This is nothing new.
Is
it difficult to listen to cold-hearted, sexist, racist, gun-toting
isolationists? Sure. But they have a right to free speech. It’s up to others to counter that speech with
speech of their own. The problem is not
with one person writing a book and saying something reprehensible, it’s that so
many others are willing to lap up this puke as if it were a chocolate shake.
The
thing that disturbs me most about a Trump presidency is not that he’s the
president, as sad and fearful that is, but that scores of millions voted for
him. They see him as a positive force or
they were willing to overlook the negatives in exchange for some potential payoff. But you wonder: How could they? How could civil-minded people support a
lunatic, an egotistical megalomaniac? How
do you let him buy your vote by hoping he delivers a good economy at the
expense of social decorum, respect for others, and level-headedness when it
comes to international relations?
So I
ask, how do we as a society, try to close debate on someone like Milo, by
suppressing his right to free speech?
How does stopping him avoid others from thinking like him? How can we give up on the speech we value, by
shitting on that right when we use a veto card against a hater like Milo?
For
free speech to work all the time, it must allow for us to hear unpopular, ugly,
even ignorant views. We can’t play judge
on what gets printed and what doesn’t. People will determine what they buy and
what they believe. The existence of a
book filled with stupidity will be countered by books of hope, love, tolerance,
and peace.
Here’s
another truth we seem to fear, which is this: That we may embrace some views of a Milo-type figure. But if we do welcome any such views, perhaps
society is changing. Views change all
the time. We used to see slavery in an
accepting form, then it was abolished.
We used to hate gays, now society welcomes them and lobbies for
them. We used to think pre-marital sex,
abortion, or women getting an education was abhorrent. Now the tables have turned on all of
that. But if back then the minority
viewpoint wasn’t allowed to be expressed, we’d never have seen change. And even when those views were censored,
banned, and shunned, they remained resilient so that generations or even
centuries later, things eventually changed. Some change is inevitable.
As I
get older, some of my views have matured on the big issues, but one thing that
I’ve grown more staunchly about is free speech.
We must all stand together for it.
Without free speech, we have violence.
I don’t consider myself a violent person and could only see pulling the trigger
if in a moment of desperation, fear and self-defense, but if I were to
physically fight for something it would be for free speech. Nothing is more precious than to have control
over what I say and what I choose to read, watch, or listen to. Once our minds are under the influence of
governments, corporations or the mob mentality, we are all no longer free. Creativity and art dies and we’re left with
nothing.
My
guess is Milo will find another publisher or even do it himself. His literary agent told the NYT that the book, Dangerous, had 50,000 pre-sales registered. The book’s release, initially set for March,
was pushed to June -- and is now off all together. He won’t go away quietly and will need a book
to truly explain and put into perspective his views and the story of how others have tried
to stop him. I wouldn’t have thought to
buy his book before, but as a supporter of free speech, I would consider buying
his book when it gets published. I may
trash it or I might find something agreeable.
In a free-flowing world, my hope is that I get to decide what I
read and what I choose to own or dispense with.
Do
you hate Milo or think the former Breitbart senior editor is an antagonistic jerk? Do you wish him bad things? Are you glad his book was dumped? Even if you answer yes to all of these
questions, don’t you believe the free speech ecosystem needs to be prized above
all that?
Look,
I know the flip side to this. People
will say: Why does he need protection to speak lies, hate, and negativity? They
will say he has a right to free speech but no one is obligated to publish his
dribble. They will point out that speech
is a right but that it comes with strings attached – the speaker must be civil
and respectful of facts, laws, and social norms.
But who
decides what such standards should be?
If we silence him, we may end up silencing those that we like or would
prove valuable to us. The only way to
get to the good speech is to let the bad speech in, educate listeners and
readers, and let society filter what it believes or what it accepts.
If
we don’t allow for the minority viewpoint to be heard, we’ll never grow as a
people. True, by giving a megaphone to
an idiot, you will initially expose ignorant ideas to more people than would
normally have access to them. But then
it becomes a teaching moment.
The weight of opposing views and the pure sensibility behind them should win out and overtake the other side – unless we find there’s good reason to give credence to the minority view.
The weight of opposing views and the pure sensibility behind them should win out and overtake the other side – unless we find there’s good reason to give credence to the minority view.
It’s
complicated and it’s challenging to all of us.
The last thing I want to do is encourage a hater or to expose millions
to things we then need to counter and clarify. But what are we afraid of? Right should always win out. If we are so confident Milo is wrong, then
the truth will be obvious to us. If some
are gullible to believe his words as truth, the problem lies elsewhere. They need to be educated and exposed to the
books that the masses believe in.
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book marketing blogs by Book Baby
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