I don't read all the articles in the NYROB and didn't read "Reflections of a
Hashtag" in the October 11 issue until in the following issue, October 25 I
noticed in "letters to the editor" several pages of outrage that Ian Baruma
had allowed this article to be published, after which Baruma seems to have
been fired.
I didn't know what a "Hashtag" was and had never heard of its author Jian
Ghomeshi and so retrieved my copy of the October 11 and read it. Ghomeshi
seems like an obnoxious fellow, but I've encountered obnoxious fellows
before in NYROB articles. I then spent some time on the internet reading
about Ghomeshi's trial.
One of the letters to the editor in the October 25th issue of the NYROB is
an expression of dismay by 109 signatories which includes several names I
recognize, for example, Anne Appelbaum, Mark Lilla, Joyce Carol Oats, Max
Hastings and Helen Vendler. They write, "We find it very troubling that the
public reaction to a single article, 'Reflections from a Hashtag" -
repellant though some of us may have found the article - should have been
the occasion for Ian Baruma's forced resignation. Given the principles of
open intellectual debate on which the NYRB was founded, his dismissal in
these circumstances strikes us as an abandonment of the central mission of
the Review, which is the free exploration of ideas."
The NYROB Editorial Staff replied to these signatories by saying "We
understand our contributors' concerns. Rea Hederman, the publisher of the
Review, has said publicly that Ian Baruma's departure was not a response to
the outrage over 'Reflections from a Hashtag,' and we strongly believe in
Rea's commitment to editorial independence.
"With regard to the necessity of open intellectual debate and
the free exploration of ideas in our pages, we couldn't agree more."
J.C. in the October 12th issue of the TLS makes no mention of the NYROB's
claim that Baruma's retirement was not forced, and writes, "Art Free from
Politics; our compendium of statements in favor of artistic freedom - and
freedom means freedom (within the law), even if we don't like it or you
don't like it - is due to be submitted to Basement Labyrinth Publications on
Voltaire's birthday, November 21. Some weeks ago we brought you an extract
from George Orwell's unused introduction to Animal Farm, in which he wrote
that 'At any given moment there is an orthodoxy . . . which it is assumed
that all right-thinking people will accept without question'. Anyone who
challenges it 'finds himself silenced with surprising effectiveness'."
Lawrence
