Open Letter From a Closed Mind
For the moment—though for how long, one does not know—the Oxford University Press is sticking to its guns. Good for it! In these days of moral cowardice that is both profound and widespread, even a cartilaginous backbone seems like a rod of iron. The Press says that, despite protests, it will continue to publish a book titled Gender-Critical Feminism by Holly Lawford-Smith.
That 800 intellectuals could be found to
protest against the publication of the book illustrates an alarming development
in our society; namely, that the greatest enemies of freedom of thought and
expression are to be found among the very people one might have hoped were
fiercest in defense of it. On the pretext of protecting eggshell sensitivities,
they want to prevent discussion of contentious matters and enforce their own
views as an unassailable orthodoxy. I suspect (though I cannot prove) that this
is because, at some level of what one must call their minds, they are only too
aware that their views and careers are built on a foundation of shifting sands.