Tom Piatak

June 12, 2008

Steve Sailer posted a very sobering piece on his website today, in which he states that if he were starting over, he would write under a pseudonym.  Not coincidentally, just below this post is one relating to an article in yesterday’s New York Times in which the fact that America has not yet criminalized “hate speech” is highlighted, together with some not so subtle hints that we may wish to emulate the Canadians and Europeans and do just that.

This is disturbing because Sailer is one of the best and most original commentators there is on contemporary America.  His articles are thoughtful and supported by evidence, not invective, and well worth reading even when one disagrees with them.  If Steve Sailer wishes he were writing under a cloak of anonymity, what does that say about the status of free speech in contemporary America?