JK Rowling
the Struggle for the rights of the oppressed and minorities turns out to be a violation of freedom of speech and of thought, denial of free public discourse — sure of more than 150 well-known writers, journalists, philosophers, scientists and other public figures. All of them signed an open letter, published in Harper’s magazine and condemned the growing fashion for so-called “new ethics”, public shaming and ostracism for different from mainstream views. Among the signatories were writers JK Rowling, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, chess player and politician Garry Kasparov, linguist Noam Chomsky, feminist Gloria Steinem and many others.
the Free exchange of information and ideas, which for a liberal society is a source of vitality, every day becoming more limited… it’s too common to hear calls for swift and severe retribution in response to the dissent,— the authors of the letter.
JK Rowling
In recent months, a number of famous people have been angry attacks on the network for unpopular speech on the theme of racial issues, gender and sexuality. The authors give examples of dismissals for dissent.
Editors fired for publishing the so-called controversial articles; books withdrawn because of suspected unreliability; journalists are forbidden to write on certain topics; professors lynched for quoting literary works; a scientist is fired for the dissemination of research, and heads of the organizations were suspended from their posts for random and clumsy mistakes. In June the editor of the New York Times resigned because of outrage over the article, the Republican Senator, calls to send the armed forces into the city, where anti-racism protests escalated into violence, the authors write collective appeals.
They welcome the civil rights movement, but emphasize that it does not negate open debate in society.
Salman Rushdie
Limitation of debate repressive government or intolerable by society is equally damaging to those people who have no power, depriving them of democratic participation in society. The way to defeat bad ideas is through exposure, debate and persuasion, and not through attempts to silence or get rid of opponents. We reject any false choice between justice and freedom, which cannot exist without each other. As writers, we need a culture that leaves us the right to experiment, risk even mistake. A disagreement with something should not have professional consequences
they said.
Margaret Atwood
Odtion of the authors of the open letter, 54-year-old British writer J. K. Rowling, for example, continue to stigmatize criticism of transactivism. Last year the author of the books about Harry Potter defended Maya Forstater, who lost his job because of the criticism of transgender Twitter and sayings to the protection of women and girls from gender identity policy. Rowling seriously interested in this theme, as told in detail in his recent essay. To essay writing, Joanne has pushed the scandal caused by her words in defense of biological sex. On Rowling’s attempt to start a discussion about it on the net many of its readers, colleagues and strangers with her work Internet users have branded her as transphobia, and publishing house employees refused to work on the release of her books in protest against the views of the writer.
