That seems to be the rap on Jonathan Chait’s now-notorious neo-Voltairean rap on free speech and the lack thereof in academe and on the web. Seems that Jon is fed up with the cult of victimhood that’s sweeping the nation, while the blogosphere is naturally fed up with the idea of well-paid straight white guys who work for dead-tree publications with health care yet getting all their pixels.
Over at Slate, J. Bryan Lowder explains why Chait, though apparently not gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning, is still not entirely an idiot, while at Reason Elizabeth Nolan Brown sportingly overlooks Chait’s “minorly annoying tone” to also conclude that Jon is indeed, not entirely an idiot, though, at times, “whiny” and “clueless,” and even more sportingly links to other observers reaching similar conclusions. Which almost leads one to conclude that perhaps the notion that if you can somehow cram yourself into the category of “victim” you do not have to see or hear anything that bothers you nor do you have to justify your behavior or arguments in any way other than by proclaiming your status as victim is losing acceptance. If only the joys of intolerance and unreason were not so intoxicating!
