Aidan went on to say:
"Prominent people who speak about the important of "free speech" rarely, if ever, mean free speech for the proles. "Free speech," generally means THEY want the right to say hurtful, dangerous, frankly stupid things about minorities, without consequence or censure. It's a ruse. t's ridiculous that a useful word that simply means "not trans" would be banned on this platform, especially given that people can call trans people all manner of transphobic slurs on here without consequence now. Calling trans people "troons" etc. isn't a "bad idea," it's hate speech that increases transphobia, which destroys trans people's lives. Transphobic hate speech leads to dead trans people. Saying that non-trans people are non-trans doesn't lead to dead non-trans people. And just look at how clunky that last sentence of that last tweet was, because, now, we don't have the freedom to use a useful word in debate. ... We generally agree on what words are dangerous slurs. We know those slurs have rung in the ears of minority people as they are beaten to death by bigots. That, alone, is a powerful argument to suspend people from social media who use slurs to attack those who "lack power." To ban people for using an elegant word that means "not trans" is frankly farcical. People who aren't trans don't "lack power." They actually have huge power over trans people's lives, and trans people often have to prostate themselves for a modicum of empathy in return."
What was the Harper's Letter? Learn more.
These stories may be paywalled. If they are, you know what to do! ($upport the writers)
David Palumbo-Liu
Jul 8, 2020
Why “Justice” and “Open Debate” Don’t Fit Together in Trump’s America
Why “Justice” and “Open Debate” Don’t Fit Together in Trump’s America “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” (aka “The Letter”) published in Harper’s online edition of 7 July 2020, has become the latest, and perhaps worst, instance of celebrities thoughtlessly piling on to sign a ridiculous, ill-conceived, attention-getting “Open…
Aaron Huertas
Jul 8, 2020
How Did the Organizers of the Harper’s Letter Mislead Some of the Signers? (It’s About Ethics in Open Letters)
Harper’s “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” has gotten a lot of attention and there are some fine responses out there already, including this very funny one. But I wanted to dive into a few specific claims about the letter itself, who signed it and whatever (possibly odd!) process…
Holly Lyn Walrath in Write Weird
Jul 8, 2020
Erasure of the Harper’s Cancel Culture Letter
“A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” —
Cassidy Routh
Jul 9, 2020
Harper’s Letter on Justice and Open Debate Explained
Hi, if you’re like me, you had a hard time reading the infamous letter because it was so pompous you rolled your eyes after each sentence and constantly lost your place. In this rewrite, I skip many of the parts where the signees try to save face (i.e. “protests are…
Julie Hotard
Jul 7, 2020
Response to A Letter on Justice and Open Debate
There’s been much ado about a letter than appeared in Harper’s today. A Letter on Justice and Open Debate | Harper's Magazine July 7, 2020 The below letter will be appearing in the Letters section of the magazine's October issue. We welcome…harpers.org It seems everyone just loves the idea of free speech — even Nazis — as long as one doesn’t say precisely what one is talking about. I certainly hope the signatories to the letter will read some of…
Kali Tal
Jul 8, 2020
Thoughts on “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate,” JK Rowling, and Caping for Inequality in the…
Thoughts on “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate,” JK Rowling, and Caping for Inequality in the Guise of “Freedom of Speech” About 150 public intellectuals and literary figures recently signed a letter, published in Harpers, that protests the “constriction” of the “free exchange of information and ideas.” While on…
Faith O. Potts
Jul 13, 2020
The Harper’s Letter is an Example of Privileged Individuals Exaggerating the Power of the Marginalized
Harper’s Magazine released “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” — but its message is incredibly vague, and many of the 150 signatories have a history of oppressive discourse — On Tuesday, Harper’s Magazine released a new letter — “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” — that includes 150 signatures by a variety of writers, journalists, and academics, all of whom have semi-prominent to extremely prominent platforms. The letter starts out sounding positive — “Our cultural institutions are facing…
Alex Steullet
Jul 8, 2020
What if Cancel Culture Were Just Our New Reality?
To be honest, I never really believed that cancel culture was a thing. Most of those complaining seemed to be privileged elites being denied insane salaries and prestigious positions for legitimate reasons. While I’m a firm believer in freedom of speech, I don’t believe in...
Keaton Weiss
Jul 16, 2020
Calling Out Bad Actors Doesn’t Hurt Open Debate: A Response to the Harper’s Letter
“A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” was recently published in Harper’s Magazine and co-signed by dozens of writers, authors, and academics from all corners of the political spectrum.
Stacy Becker
Jul 18, 2020
A Rewrite of “A Letter on Just and Open Debate”
Why oh why do we believe that debate is good for society? — Have you read “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate”? It set off a firestorm of opinion about whose voices the authors were privileging. The letter
Rashmee Roshan Lall
Jul 15, 2020
What is the deal with ‘woke’ culture and writing letters?
A battle of letters is under way on the broad and bitterly contested theme of “justice and open debate” and a truce seems unlikely anytime
Though Ron DeSantis in 2023 said the word "woke" seven times in less than a half-minute, Donald Trump said: “I don’t like the term woke. Half the people can’t define it; they don’t know what it is.” (This juxtaposition was pointed out by Lawrence B. Glickman.)
The New York Times Pitchbot is a parody account on Twitter that jokes about NYT headlines that aren't but should be. In this tweet, it is claiming victory for a successful prediction.
See here. One of the signers of the Harper's Letter, recognizing that it was "a cause of the right" (that is, right-wing), is in 2020 calling for NYPD to arrest faculty members who are participating in a nonviolent political protest.
Caitlin Flanagan a couple years ago:
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— Dave Levitan (@davelevitan.bsky.social) Apr 23, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Exactly, these ghouls spent years defending racists and transphobes by saying that it had nothing to do with the content of their speech, they simply had a content-neutral dedication to free expression.
They were lying! They agreed with the far-right views and were too chickenshit to say so.
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— Michael Hobbes (@michaelhobbes.bsky.social) Apr 24, 2024 at 5:00 AM
We have two sets of speech rules in this country: one for the far right, which must be protected in case they turn their wrath on others, and one for everyone else, who are subject to the immediate punitive power of the state for any reason or no reason at all
— jesse (@jesseltaylor.bsky.social) Apr 26, 2024 at 6:22 AM
One way of looking at so-called cancel culture:
"'Cancel Culture' was a reaction to Trump’s victory in 2016 and was a consumer movement. As the walls of the Neoliberal economy closed in, many people were left to decide who could participate in the economy and began sorting their consumer decisions through a moralistic lens. In other words, there was only so much pie and the choice was made to decide who got part of the pie based on their behaviors. This wasn’t political. It was a consumer choice, which Neoliberalism has rendered as one of the only means of actually asserting power." (Jared Yates Sexton, Nov 25, 2024)
Peek behind the paywall. (This was in response to the Harper's Letter.)
theracket.news/p/illiberali...
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— Jonathan M. Katz (@katz.theracket.news) April 21, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Harper's Letter really is the pinnacle of decadence. 150 intellectuals boldly shouting "don't be rude to the rich author" while democracy died in the open in Eastern Europe and as the far right rose in North America.
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— Airship Chronos says TRANS RIGHTS (@airshipchronos.bsky.social) April 16, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Again, I'd love it if a reporter attempted all the signers of the Harpers Letter on the record about their feelings on free expression now. And ask what they're currently doing to help protect it.
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— Melissa Ryan (@melissaryan.bsky.social) April 11, 2025 at 9:44 AM
They "walked right into this trap."
I'd just like to applaud all the people who signed the Harper's letter, who took the side of the fascists who wanted to create this reality, and argued that the people who didn't want to give those fascists a stage and a microphone were creating a chilling effect on free exchange of ideas.
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— A.R. Moxon (@juliusgoat.bsky.social) May 9, 2025 at 6:28 AM
Where those Harper’s Letter folks at
— Anil Dash (@anildash.com) December 21, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Look at it now, from the perspective of January 2026. See where it has been going. For the right-wing, or those with reactionary tendencies, other people publicly embarrassing you — especially if they're disagreeing with you and they're making the point more elegantly, or they're citing stronger sources, or they're obviously more logical, or they appeal to the audience more — is the worst thing that can happen to you. This justifies repressing their speech. And if the rulers are increasingly fascist and authoritarian, they'll use their own feelings of embarrassment to justify killing you.
The New War on Speech: In modern US history, there has never been an attack on free expression quite like Donald Trump’s. Aryeh Neier, New York Review of Books, March 10, 2026
