This article seems to be a very long winded expression of something that approaches common sense. Namely, that it is the ‘silent majority’ who are indeed silenced by the attacks on Rushdie, Moore and Peterson etc. We have reached a point where they can speak for us, be we are not allowed to speak for ourselves except at the ballot box – for now.

However, I don’t agree that Ben Shapiro is a member of the IDW. His broadcasting operation employs a number of people and his viewing figures often match the likes of CNN.

The writer also seems to suggest it is reasonable for some people to think that it’s OK to email employers about the views of their employees. (As far as I can tell, this is not something the writer would do or advocated). Well I happen to think this behaviour is appalling, just appalling. The fact is that in 30 years, and as demonstrated by this and a number of other developments, we have gone from defeating the Soviet Union to becoming the Soviet Union.

The writer also references Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying. Ironically, their stand against the SJWs has given them a bigger platform than ever. But not without costs. Despite being two of the most thoughtful progressives on the planet, they are frequently accused of being ‘alt’right’ or even ‘far right’. Even worse, Big Tech actually shut down Bret’s Unity platform, an honourable albeit slightly bonkers (in my opinion) attempt to form a new political party/structure than encompassed the Right and Left. We live in very dangerous times.

The writer makes exactly the same mistakes as all other left liberals: You cannot have one rule for David Duke and one for Jordan Petersen. They are equally free to propound their views and equally constrained NOT to exhort people to violence or murder. Failure to understand the paradox of liberty produces nonsense journalism like this. It also encourages Antifa, KKK etc and their fellow travellers in the Iranian Govt to claim that violence is an appropriate response to the written or spoken word.

That people can be killed for insulting someone elses beliefs and it is not the cause of mass protest says a lot. It creates an unacceptable social lowest common denominator, and a gross infringement of the boundaries of citizens that underpin personal liberty. Yet no-one is allowed to pull down the nonsense that is claims of islamophobia in response to the terrorisation of society and the denial of freedom to those who are not adherents to this barbaric belief system.

I find it rather odd that so many of the discussions about “the mob crushing free speech” seem to involve so few actual people. I can understand that opinions held by such as Jordan Peterson or Owen Jones can stir up feelings amongst fellow commentators – and I often hear about “Twitter storms”.

However, in my daily life I find that most people have either little or no interest in or no real opinion on the various subject matters being raised. This leads me to wonder whether modern social media outlets are functioning as little more than amplifiers for minority views or single issue fanatics. Too many Twitter storms appear to be journalists arguing vehemently amongst themselves in public with their opinions reprinted to fill space in MSM outlets.

I am not foolish enough to dismiss attacks on freedoms of thought, speech or action but I find that most people seem more concerned about the amount of milk left in the fridge or when the car MOT expires and apply far less emphasis to more abstruse journalistic or socio-political discussions.

Under the present economic conditions the loss of a job, especially for people with families, can be an absolutely crushing blow, and the author appears to understate this reality.

I very much agree that it’s beyond the pale to call somebody’s boss to protest their ideas. For those who believe otherwise, though, I wonder at what point it stops? Are there only certain jobs the target of your ire can’t have like prominent film director or columnist, or is it all jobs? Would you, for example, call their boss to protest them running a fish hatchery or a bagging groceries, too?

The mob cannot cancel anyone without the complicity of the majority.

I suppose they are trying to draw attention to the fact they have been fired, which points to a bigger issue, freedom of speech or lack there of. They are trying to show up the intolerance of the left, and there are still some outlets where you can get a job doing this. It’s just that a worrying number of institutions would not employ someone with their supposedly extreme views. They are probably afraid for their careers but there seems to be a well trodden career path for people who have been silenced. There is a danger of people making this into their whole thing, after all it feels good to be a famous martyr, fighting against injustice as you see it, but I agree it needs to be said. It’s just that we need more institutions where this isn’t an issue and people can write and debate the important topics without fear.

Abigail Shrier has been silenced, though. Amazon no longer sells her book in the UK.

There appears to be a silencing policy at Unherd too. My comments just disappear.

Well, two can play at that game. If they are not reinstated, I will just cancel Unherd (unsubscribe in the modern parlance).

Is this not part of the Techno-feudalism era we have now entered? We are free to say what we like as long as (and only as long as) the Tech companies don’t mind it.

A lot of people have been permanently silenced by the mob. I am surprised that Tom didn’t mention anyone beyond the Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses”, killed, not for expressing his own views, but for translating another person’s. In 2004, Theo Van Gogh, the Dutch film-maker, was butchered by an Islamist terrorist for a film attacking Islam. He won’t be making any more films against Islam. Canadian porn star August Ames committed suicide in 2017 at the age of 23. All she had done was tweet that she refused to make films with male stars who had done gay porn films because she valued her health. This precipitated such a vicious reaction from online trolls that she took her life. She won’t be tweeting anymore about gay porn or anything else. In 2020, University of North Carolina at Wilmington professor Mike Adams lost his job after he sent out controversial tweets against the lockdown, including: “Don’t shut down the universities. Shut down the non-essential majors. Like Women’s studies.” Three hundred professors on campus, his so-called colleagues, had called for his dismissal. Professor Adams took his own life at the age of 55. He is absolutely silenced now. There will be no more anti-lockdown pieces from him. One does wonder a little, if Tom himself hasn’t self-censored his views for fear of the mob. Perhaps he is afraid to take notice of the obvious permanent silencing of so many people because he doesn’t want to be called Islamophobic, homophobic, anti-science or whatever.

Silencing has its uses … sometimes.
I had never heard of Peterson until I came across an article saying there was conflict at Glasgow University where some students wanted him to bee removed from the slate to vote him in as Student Rector.
Why, I wondered. Who was this person? The article didn’t explain.
Long story short, I became an ‘early adopter’ of Peterson.

Not long ago I saw a Douglas Murray interview in which he quoted Christopher Hitchens about public figures pontificating about political correctness. He quoted Hitch as saying “just make a little note in your little black book and wait… this idiot will one day commit the same offence he is pontificating about in others”. Witness the mob’s attack on Dominic Cummings, like rabid dogs – and bitches – ignoring Covid restritctions and elbowing one another out of the way in an effort to thrust their microphones down his gullet to have him explain why he had visited Barnard Castle. Among the worst of the gloating, gleeful, sneering perpetrators on air? Sky News’s Kay Burley and Beth Rigby. Come back, Hitch. You need to celebrate today’s news about new Covid violations, and, like me, tick off two more names in your little black book.

“Intellectual Dark Web” is an oxymoron.