This morning, I received an interesting message that reminded me to explain myself yet again and got me to explore the increasingly disturbing and invasive sociology of digital communications.
I’m beginning to believe that a medium created so that information could be free is actually choking our right and obligation to speak freely.
I’ve been writing online for nearly a half-century, and in that time, I have seen our understanding and tolerance for freedom of speech and honesty diminish.
Lying is almost required now in our civic leaders. Once people stopped believing in Hell, they decided it was okay to lie. Truth doesn’t matter to many people. There’s no penalty for lying, no shame or accountability.
The horror of the Israeli-Hamas war and the slaughter of thousands of civilians has brought our increasing disregard for freedom of speech into clear focus.
Almost everyone who writes a letter, posts online, or marches in protest – on either side of the horror – is almost immediately targeted, threatened – sometimes with death – fired, or had a job offer withdrawn.
Enraged and ego-mad millionaires and billionaires are canceling donations and demanding resignations.
Money is power, not honor or peace or freedom of speech.
Instead of speaking to one another, as the world begs for,, the warring powers decided instead to keep killing one another.
What has this got to do with me? A lot, it turns out. It has a lot to do with anyone who believes in freedom.
A man named Leo wrote me this morning in response to a review of the new Scorcese movie Killers Of The Flower Moon.
He liked my review and enjoyed the movie.
He didn’t like my one-liner saying that the movie was about the very story Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida doesn’t want our children to hear.
He has banned any mention of the persecution of Native Americans from elementary school curriculums by giving any single person in his state the option of banning books with titles or subjects they don’t like. And he’s been bragging about this great achievement all over Iowa.
“From Leo: I saw the glowing header of your review. I agree with it and look forward to reading your full review. I was immediately confronted with your gratuitous attack on a very decent man, the governor of Florida. I have no idea why you chose to do that. You believe that you are entrusted with pursuing a moral imperative, and that justifies alienating a large number of your potential readers.
People often tell me that if I am unhappy with being criticized, I should shut down my blog and hide. It’s a pretty dumb argument to me.
In all my years of online writing, I’ve been attacked almost daily, but the assaults are different now’s- ugly, unyielding, and absolute.
I have to laugh when people tell me I should shut down the blog if being attacked bothers me. I don’t think so. The penalty for disagreeing is severe.
Being attacked is like swapping a fly to me. I’m glad I am worth it.
Some people tell me I should expect to be attacked if I write something. It’s an odd exchange and argument. If I couldn’t handle criticism, I’d be dead.
I don’t consider it noble to be walked over. I don’t believe accepting criticism is a noble obligation. I don’t need criticism from strangers on Facebook. I don’t want advice I didn’t ask for.
I have a gentle and learned professor friend who grew up in Palestine. He is a respected teacher at a well-known Eastern College who has waited a long time for tenure, and the chair of his department came to him last week after he spoke in class about the need to protect innocent lives in the war on both sides. He said his tenure would be denied this year and perhaps for good. The donors were after him.
Mybfriend’ heart was broken, his life and finances and security upended.
“Is this really America?” he asked. I didn’t know. ” Money is our faith now, ” I thought.
Leo is not a troll or a cruel person. He seems thoughtful and a somewhat eccentric but genial philosopher, although an ill-informed one. He and I get the news from different sources.
He thinks Ron DeSantis is a decent and noble man. I don’t. I told Leo I don’t argue politics online or with strangers who come to me from Facebook. It’s become both unhealthy and dangerous.
If I bowed to the angry throngs, what would the point of me be?
I said it from the first day I published the blog: You get Katz. On any given day, you might get the good one or the bad one, but you will always get the real one.
This is not what America is about. And come to think of it, it’s not what being Jewish is about either.
In America, we used to celebrate this tolerance and freedom. As a Jew, I am sensitive to losing it or lying down for troubled people.
We say we believe in peace and tolerance and accept people who think differently from us. That seems to have changed.
Now we say if you disagree with me or insult me, I should suck it up and kiss your ass.
That freedom was our diamond donation to the world, and we are choking that idea to death because thinking or living differently is not a scourge or crime – as Governor DeSantis suggests.
Free speech should not be taken for granted. It should be revered and preserved. I don’t wish to be governed by a new kind of Mussolini with shiny cowboy boots.
Sorry, Leo, I have no apologies to make for you. I have no choice but to be anyone but me.
We are each speaking our truth.
Right, Jon. SURE you had a convenient professor friend immediately denied tenure a week after a lecture. Sure. That totally isn’t fiction. You lie and you lie and you lie, instead of doing actual research. Do you think your readers are idiots?
You write like an idiot Sam, and the worst kind, a nasty and lazy one – try looking at the news, you’ll see a lot more examples than this. All you have to do is google the subject, but I guess you don’t believe in research. Here’s a starter for you, the media is crawling with other examples. I’m not your secretary..so do your homework and get lost, I don’t want you around. You offer nothing but stink. You do seem a bit unhinged, Sam.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2023/10/24/editor-fired-after-sharing-onion-article-isr
No, Sam, he doesn’t. Apparently, you do. How sad you had to write this.
Jon, keep up the honest and intelligent dialogue, I enjoy your blog immensely and have for many years.
I was bemused by your statement ‘Once people stopped believing in Hell, they decided it was okay to lie.’ Seems to me believing in hell doesn’t really make that much difference. You don’t need to believe in hell to be truthful and honourable.
Please keep speaking your truth. Whether I always agree or usually do agree, it’s important that you express your truth.
It’s sad and dangerous when students are not allowed to learn the truth of our history.
It’s seem unbelievable that college students can’t receive additional information about the grievance. conflict in Israel.
This is a great response to a clearly uniformed person. We are all free to agree or disagree, just do it with respect.
Thank you Jon.
” Money is our faith now, ” I thought. —- It has always been that way in this country…despite what the history books of old said about ideals etc….. If you truly look at AMERICAN history, read about how women and people of African Descent were marginalized from the get go… read about the insanity that was perpetuated on the Native peoples… (this went on right through the middle of the 20th century) simply read about how this place was settled and why… this has been the United State of Commerce…since the beginning. As a child with lineage all they way back to the first and second ship to land in what we now call New England…(and with native ancestry to boot) I can tell you it has always been about some aspect of monetary exchange… Religious freedom was hardly on anyone’s mind – except for a special few…the average bloke and his lady were just trying to create a new economic world for themselves. (BTW, most of the passengers on the Mayflower were called Strangers…they were men who were looking for more opportunities and decided to throw their lot in with the so called “Pilgrims”. ) My family history includes staggering proof of what I have stated above. i.e. Harris family of Maryland…given 20 thousand acres as a King’s grant (supposedly to the illegitimate son of KING Charles the II) Owned over 300 hundred slaves; there is more…but, I won’t belabor the point.
I watch your blog carefully. You very much are in my thoughts as you navigate life and I quote you often. I am very concerned about the situation at “The Mansion”. Please keep us informed as you learn more.
King Charles the II had more than 17 illegitimate children (and, obviously, numerous mistresses) but no legitimate ones. It’s pretty likely that could be one of them. (As a side note, the name Fitz(something) often meant bastard of the king.) IIRC, (I’m a bit rusty) there’s also at least one Ducal line that’s still extant today(with a lot of twists and turns) descended from him.
Great note, thanks..
So in other words, if you don’t say what he wants to hear you should shut up? You just keep being you, we like it like that! Thanks !!!
Sheri, thanks for your message, and congratulations got it. I am not obliged to be isulted by people to pretend I want or need their opinions about what I write or don’t write. Shut up or get lost if you have nothing nice or thoughtful to say, you said it perfectly. It’s my blog, I work at it every day and I don’t choose to be anyone’s toilet bowl. Thanks for listening.
I don’t either!