Thread by @ErrataRob

There is nothing more corrupt than a living saint. We see this as Lawrence Lessig is suing the NYTimes for "fake news" defaming him:
theverge.com/2020/1/13/2106…

Lessig is a left-wing version of Trump, namely a populist who supports the "people" vs. what he sees as corrupt institutions. Like Trump, one of those failing institutions is the press. Like Trump, whenever the press doesn't agree with his own spin, it's "fake news".

Lessig wrote an an essay in support of Joi Ito who solicited donations from Epstein. He said it was a mistake to do so, but if taking such donations, it should be anonymous, in secret.

Here is the NYTimes article title that Lessig claims is defamatory. Sure, Lessig has a point that the title puts a different spin on things than what he intended in his article, but at the same time, the title is not incorrect.

Lessig also claims the lede saying what he did was "defend soliciting donations" from Epstein. Again, there's spin. It was a middle ground, calling the donations a mistake, but at the same time, not as big a mistake meriting everyone else's condemnation.

The point the NYTimes article was trying to make was this one: Lessig's "moral crumpling", his use of simple populist principles criticizing his enemies, and convoluted principles like this when defending his friends.

The problem with the NYTimes article is not that it's wrong, but that it's right: Lessig is corrupt. Lessig doesn't like that so seeks to suppress this speech by exploiting defamation laws. Of course, he won't win, won't come close, but he hopes to intimidate future critics.

Lessig indeed defended Joi Ito's taking donations from Epstein, indeed saying that if you are going to take these donations, then you should only take it anonymously, in secret.

Now come at me with your defamation lawsuit, bro.