CENSORSHIP AT VOLTAIRE PRESS? EDWARD CLINE
Thumbs Down on Voltaire Press Those of you who visit the Voltaire Press Facebook site should be advised that I have been permanently blocked from leaving comments on it that contradict the premises, assumptions, and conclusions of the pro-open borders and pro-open immigration narrative, and, indeed, from even visiting the Voltaire Press Facebook site. Also, the new manager of Voltaire Press remains anonymous, and has refused multiple times to identify himself. It is certainly not Gary Hull, who has vanished, but who would never upbraid me for providing links to news stories that contradict that narrative (I am aware of the particulars of his status, as some of you might be). Most of the patrons who do leave posts on the Voltaire Press page are what I call rationalizing, picayune “bean counters” and dabblers trying to reconcile Objectivism, a philosophy of reason, with a variety of straw men issues, and who deny the perils of an Obama-staged invasion of illegals, not only from Mexico and Central America, but now, it has been reported by Texas and the FBI, by Islamic jihadists from the Mideast and Africa. This is aside from their erroneous premise that the U.S. it not at war with Islam (contrary to what President Obama said in Cairo and elsewhere, Islam is at war with us), and so immigration restrictions of potentially hostile immigrants are not morally justified. This is tantamount to residents of a burning building discussing the nature of fire, about who might or might not be the arsonist, and having a coffee klatch to discuss shades of meaning, instead of escaping from the conflagration or attempting to put out the flames. It’s the caliber of intellectual discussion that gives intellectual discussion a bad name. Anyway, visit Voltaire Press on Facebook and see for yourself the character of the discussion. I’m done with Voltaire Press, and it with me. I’ll continue to fight the battles that need to be fought, and Voltaire Press can go on bean-counting and erecting scarecrows. Another person’s posts whose arguments against the unrealistic policies of open borders and open immigration were also deleted. I do not know if he has been banned, as well. Over the course of a week, my comments were repeatedly deleted from the Voltaire Press Facebook page by the current Wizard of Oz-like anonymous manager without reason or explanation, except that the mystery person once wrongly opined that I had called Keith Weiner names, which I certainly had not. My last, futile, and subsequently deleted comments were to refer to that practice and to the anonymity of the host as an instance of “impeachable cowardice.” I’m surprised that no regular visitor to Voltaire Press’s Facebook page has ever requested that this person remove his Guy Fawkes mask and reveal his identity. Obviously, this person has something to hide to be so stubbornly mute in his refusals. In all the debates I’ve ever witnessed, the moderator’s identity has always been known. Now that my posts have been removed from the site, no one can judge for himself what I said, whether it was germane to the topic or in the way of character assassinations. Readers here may remember that during the imbroglio over the Ground Zero mosque a few years back, and whether or not Muslims had a right to erect a victory mosque blocks away from the site of the destroyed World Trade Center (e.g., “It’s private property!” and “It’s freedom of religion!” and etc.), everyone knew my identity. I did not delete the posts of those who disagreed with me from my Facebook site, except the nastiest ones that resorted to ad hominems, nor did I block anyone from visiting my site. Another curious consequence of the ban is that Mr. Guy Fawkes must necessarily repudiate my essay, commissioned and written under the aegis of Voltaire Press, and published in May 2013, “Islam’s Reign of Terror.” But, that essay is still linked to Voltaire Press. Excerpts of it appeared on Rule of Reason and elsewhere. Some time before the Ed Mazlish and Keith Weiner articles raised the hackles of the open-borders/open immigration clique, I queried Voltaire Press about publishing “Islam’s Reign of Terror” as a print book and on Kindle. There was no response to that query. Months, passed, and, being unable to contact Gary Hull, who commissioned the essay, because his Duke University and personal email accounts were disabled (all my email queries to his addresses were rejected as “undeliverable”), I went ahead and published the essay on Amazon and on Kindle. Sales of both editions reflect a more significant interest in the subject than perhaps was reflected on Voltaire Press. Well, there are “open borders” and there are “open discussions.” Draw your own conclusions. Voltaire Press is free to block access to its Facebook page to anyone it chooses, and to delete posts it does not like left by its readers. But, for Mr. Guy Fawkes, there is a terrific, well-paying job waiting for him with the New York Times, or at the Ministry of Truth. And, that is the end of that.Comments are closed.
