Thread by @jonathanchait

1. On news of Slate’s suspension of Mike Pesca, my thoughts on a similar episode still pertain: nymag.com/intelligencer/… Just to add a few more point, a thread--

2.
My preference is to allow mention while treating use as a firing offense. I agree with Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy’s argument about the pedagogical value of quoting the word: reason.com/volokh/2020/06…

3. However, the purpose of language is to communicate, and if parts of your audience are emotionally affected by a term, that inhibits communication, so if we have to change the norm to prohibit mention of the slur along with use, that’s ok.

4. Joel Anderson tells the NYT, “For Black employees, it’s an extremely small ask to not hear that particular slur and not have debate about whether it’s OK for white employees to use that particular slur.” I agree with that. nytimes.com/2021/02/22/bus…

5. But it’s important to maintain a distinction between use and mention, even if you prohibit both, it’s simply wrong to try them as the same thing requiring the same or similar punishment.

6. Most importantly, if you change policies, you can’t do it retroactively. While it may be an extremely small ask to stop enunciating or quoting a slur, going back and punishing staffers who violated the standard before it existed is a huge ask.

Defector’s story, citing Pesca’s history of infractions, includes his reporting on the subject for NPR and describes it as “use” of the slur:

8. Here we have both a collapse of the use/mention distinction and retroactive enforcement taken to the point where his NPR reporting is held up as evidence of insensitivity that justifies punishment.

9. Many progressive institutions are reacting to the societal crisis of racism in ways that create a great deal of injustice while doing little if anything to alleviate the true problem.

10. To fix that, we need to return to liberal norms, which take accusations of racism seriously while still requiring they be held to standards of evidence. The norm of “allyship,” which includes never challenging an accusation of racism, is a comprehensive failure.