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On Being Blacklisted

aaronkunin.medium.com

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Re: On Being Blacklisted

#51

Post by sickofparadox »

cpitman wrote: post #21
yew wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes? I've just read the article. It's a collection of crypto-fascist dog whistles about race; it barely merits being called an opinion. (It is an example of why the academic personnel pool needs the thorough cleaning it's currently getting.) Anyone who declined to associate with the author would be right to do so. There aren't many people who don't understand what this kind of article is really about. The Chicago Rev…

It seems like calling it a collection of dog whistles is directly addressed by this paragraph: "The trouble is that Nazis are human beings, and they have many benign thoughts along with their antisemitism. So I might avoid repeating some ordinary, unthreatening statement uttered by someone with a Nazi reputation, lest you think that I sound like a Nazi. Soon only actual Nazis and a few weirdos who don’t care what oth…

Dog Whistle (Politics): The use of coded or suggestive language in political messaging to garner support from a particular group without provoking opposition. [Wikipedia]

To what group is this directed? What about this speaks to the "Crypto-fascists" the above commenter mentions? Is it simply the word Nazi? I have read through this a few times and I'm having a difficult time finding the angle in which this could be a nod and a wink to a skinhead.

Re: On Being Blacklisted

#52

Post by monoideism »

eli wrote: post #42
rsj_hn wrote: post #14

"“we believe the essay does not align with Chicago Review’s editorial and political agenda.”" It's interesting that some academic literary magazines are now being forced to admit they have political agendas, which is a step in the right direction. People like Kunin are the conscience of our generation, daring to stand up to the mobs and tell the truth - a political act that conflicts with the Chicago Review's agenda.…

How could one possibly publish poetry in a non political way?

In fact, he discusses this very cogently in the essay.

Perhaps give it a read?

Re: On Being Blacklisted

#53

Post by marshmallow_12 »

bradleyjg wrote: post #36
yew wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes? I've just read the article. It's a collection of crypto-fascist dog whistles about race; it barely merits being called an opinion. (It is an example of why the academic personnel pool needs the thorough cleaning it's currently getting.) Anyone who declined to associate with the author would be right to do so. There aren't many people who don't understand what this kind of article is really about. The Chicago Rev…

Can we please not redefine fascism to mean “something I don’t like”? This article has nothing at all to do with the power or primacy of the state. We have tons of pejoratives in the English language, why do we have to homogenize every word with any negative valence into yet another pejorative stripped of all nuance?

Up next: "support the expanded Fascist Party under the leadership of generic Hitler. You haven't changed, only our definitions have, by people who are mildly to the left of you. They call everything you support Fascist, so we clearly can't be so wrong."

I'm being sarcastic but this really isn't at all funny. But judging by the largely negative response i got last time i pointed this out, this doesn't majorly bother anyone else. At least they didn't respond to this specific point.

I'm just going to have to vote for Stalin.

Edit: ignore the elephant. Obviously this article is not relevant to you. It's only about a publication in Chicago.

Re: On Being Blacklisted

#54

Post by walrus01 »

josephg wrote: post #48
walrus01 wrote: post #32

Nobody owes you a free publishing platform. He expects that by calling the publishers of some journal "craven" and "scared", that he's going to elicit a reversal of their decision, and positive response from them, something to the effect of "oh, how dare we deny your article, woe unto us, we were so dreadfully wrong"... Really? The biggest takeaway that I got from his December essay, and this one? A sense of self rig…

> He expects that by calling the publishers of some journal "craven" and "scared", that he's going to elicit a reversal of their decision Thats not my read of the situation. I agree that if his goal was to convince the authors, it would make sense for him to be more accomodating. And it wouldn't make sense to call them out in public. But thats not his goal here. To my eyes, this piece takes a shot at the culture whic…

What I find amusing is that the same center-right and right-wing mouthpieces that complain the loudest about 'cancel culture' have themselves been deeply involved in attempting to 'cancel' things for the past 40 years, anything they dislike or find distasteful, a random assortment of which includes.

rap music and any music with "vulgar" lyrics (PARENTAL WARNING labels on CDs)

harry potter (satanic magic messages offending the christian right)

construction of neighborhood mosques (we can't have a foreign religion in our white christian suburb, can we???)

french fries (remember freedom fries???)

lgbtq rights

womens' reproductive rights

frank discussion of endemic police brutality

just about anything new, foreign, liberal, confusing or ethnically diverse else that would upset the sensibilities of a deep red state bible belt voter.

Re: On Being Blacklisted

#55

Post by richardwhiuk »

dkdk8283 wrote: post #45

Let’s please collectively agree to abolish cancel culture. Opposing ideas cause growth. Singular ideologies do not lead to growth or change.

Not really. You are basically arguing that anyone who provides a platform for viewpoints, must provide a platform for any viewpoint, no matter how abhorent they (and their readers) might find it.

Re: On Being Blacklisted

#56

Post by konjin »

rsj_hn wrote: post #14

"“we believe the essay does not align with Chicago Review’s editorial and political agenda.”" It's interesting that some academic literary magazines are now being forced to admit they have political agendas, which is a step in the right direction. People like Kunin are the conscience of our generation, daring to stand up to the mobs and tell the truth - a political act that conflicts with the Chicago Review's agenda.…

The hardest thing for my generation to understand is that the politics of our youth are no longer the politics of the present.

To quote the many times canceled Orwell: And this tolerance or plain dishonesty means much more than that admiration for the USSR happens to be fashionable at this moment. Quite possibly that particular fashion will not last. For all I know, by the time this book is published my view of the Soviet régime may be the generally-accepted one. But what use would that be in itself? To exchange one orthodoxy for another is not necessarily an advance. The enemy is the gramophone mind, whether or not one agrees with the record that is being played at the moment.

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...

Re: On Being Blacklisted

#57

Post by threevox »

eli wrote: post #42
rsj_hn wrote: post #14

"“we believe the essay does not align with Chicago Review’s editorial and political agenda.”" It's interesting that some academic literary magazines are now being forced to admit they have political agendas, which is a step in the right direction. People like Kunin are the conscience of our generation, daring to stand up to the mobs and tell the truth - a political act that conflicts with the Chicago Review's agenda.…

How could one possibly publish poetry in a non political way?

If your poetry is political, you're doing it wrong

Re: On Being Blacklisted

#59

Post by earleybird »

bradleyjg wrote: post #36
yew wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes? I've just read the article. It's a collection of crypto-fascist dog whistles about race; it barely merits being called an opinion. (It is an example of why the academic personnel pool needs the thorough cleaning it's currently getting.) Anyone who declined to associate with the author would be right to do so. There aren't many people who don't understand what this kind of article is really about. The Chicago Rev…

Can we please not redefine fascism to mean “something I don’t like”? This article has nothing at all to do with the power or primacy of the state. We have tons of pejoratives in the English language, why do we have to homogenize every word with any negative valence into yet another pejorative stripped of all nuance?

There are several underlying concerns. One is a persistent redefinition of words to suit a political narrative. Another is the rejection of words without consideration or analysis of what the words mean.

Re: On Being Blacklisted

#60

Post by [deleted] »

leephillips wrote: post #11

I'd never heard of this guy, but this is some good writing. The editors who blacklisted him display such abject cowardice when they say they are cancelling him because of the “reception” of his previous article in a different journal. Not because of what the article says, but because of its “reception.” This is the moral and intellectual equal of the 14 year old girl who won’t sit with Suzy in the cafeteria because s…

[deleted]
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