Great first two paragraphs. As to the third paragraph, I have two questions. Do you know any specific examples where people were penalized for merely suggesting they might harbor disreputable ideas? And how do you know that differences in whether people get away with these things aren’t just due to random chance?
I wouldn’t like to get into specific examples, not just because the issues are extremely contentious, but also because I don’t want to write things like “X has expressed belief Y” in an easily googlable form and on a high-ranking website.
But to answer your questions, yes, I have seen several occasions where people publicly wrote or said something that suggested disreputable views only remotely and indirectly, and as a result were exposed to public shaming campaigns of the sort that may tar one’s reputation with serious consequences, especially now that this stuff will forever come up when someone googles their names. In at least one of these cases, I am certain that the words were entirely innocent of the imputed meaning. (Feel free to PM me if you’re curious about the details.)
Even when it comes to open and explicit expressions of dangerous views, I still observe vast differences. I’m sure that sometimes this is due to random chance, for example if a journalist randomly decides to make a big deal out of something that would have otherwise passed unnoticed. However, this can’t possibly be the whole story, since I have seen people repeatedly say and write in prominent public venues practically the same things that got others in trouble, without any apparent bad consequences. There are possible explanations that occur to me in each particular case, but I’m not sure if any of them are correct.
I’d say chance is already a factor (is someone digging for dirt against that person? Is the topic currently “hot”?), and in general “does it make a good soundbite?”. Disreputable opinions don’t get repeated as much when they are phrased in academic jargon, or indirectly implied in a way that can only be understood with a lot of context. There’s also the question of incentives, i.e. people are more likely to dig up dirt on the president of a law school than on an average Joe.
Great first two paragraphs. As to the third paragraph, I have two questions. Do you know any specific examples where people were penalized for merely suggesting they might harbor disreputable ideas? And how do you know that differences in whether people get away with these things aren’t just due to random chance?
I wouldn’t like to get into specific examples, not just because the issues are extremely contentious, but also because I don’t want to write things like “X has expressed belief Y” in an easily googlable form and on a high-ranking website.
But to answer your questions, yes, I have seen several occasions where people publicly wrote or said something that suggested disreputable views only remotely and indirectly, and as a result were exposed to public shaming campaigns of the sort that may tar one’s reputation with serious consequences, especially now that this stuff will forever come up when someone googles their names. In at least one of these cases, I am certain that the words were entirely innocent of the imputed meaning. (Feel free to PM me if you’re curious about the details.)
Even when it comes to open and explicit expressions of dangerous views, I still observe vast differences. I’m sure that sometimes this is due to random chance, for example if a journalist randomly decides to make a big deal out of something that would have otherwise passed unnoticed. However, this can’t possibly be the whole story, since I have seen people repeatedly say and write in prominent public venues practically the same things that got others in trouble, without any apparent bad consequences. There are possible explanations that occur to me in each particular case, but I’m not sure if any of them are correct.
I’d say chance is already a factor (is someone digging for dirt against that person? Is the topic currently “hot”?), and in general “does it make a good soundbite?”. Disreputable opinions don’t get repeated as much when they are phrased in academic jargon, or indirectly implied in a way that can only be understood with a lot of context. There’s also the question of incentives, i.e. people are more likely to dig up dirt on the president of a law school than on an average Joe.
I agree that all these considerations can be significant, but I don’t think they are sufficient to explain everything I’ve seen.