At Quillette, one academic spoke out:
Nearly a quarter of the approximately 200 email responses I got included a description of some personally observed or experienced instance of cancel culture, or of the intrusion of politics into scientific pedagogy. But with few exceptions, these writers said they were scared of being seen as opposing this movement. “The situation in STEM is certainly Orwellian,” wrote one writer, whom I am quoting on condition of anonymity. “I am frequently scared of expressing the Wrong viewpoint, resulting in self-censorship. Worse, at times I feel pressured to give a statement (a social performance) [indicating] that I am aligned with the Correct viewpoint.”
Another correspondent wrote: “I came [across] your viewpoint … as I was scrolling through Twitter over the weekend. Unsurprisingly, a Twitter mob … came together to demand the retraction of this essay from the JPCL. I am appalled with this behavior … Ideas like this should be rigorously and thoroughly discussed and debated, instead of just shutting [them] down. I am a gay person of colour, supposedly belonging to that same group of people that [the mob seeks] to protect. However, I do not think I am protected, nor am I ‘safe.’ And often because of this, I remain quiet in these social-media platforms, fearing that my future career in science will be in peril.”
Anna Krylov and Jay Tanzman, “Corrupting STEM. The Silent Liberal Majority Must Fight Back” at Quillette (December 18, 2021)
Sadly, that “gay person of colour” who kept silent has largely built his/her OWN prison. It wasn’t the howling stupids who did that.
Look, please. Freedom costs. If you can’t speak up, you can’t be free. That’s why we commemorate Remembrance Day. Those people actually died, by the way.
But does anyone really believe that the “silent liberal majority” will ever really fight back? As opposed to morphing into Bores-for-Life by sacrificing everyone and everything that the new fascists want? So far not looking good.