While I think that it’s extremely important to hear and listen to viewpoints we don’t agree with, we are in different times. Inviting a white-nationalist, anti-Semites like Steve Bannon or Richard Spencer to an event is not “hearing what the other side has to say.” It’s giving a platform to the hate and vitriol they espouse, and does not spark conversation or provide fodder for common ground. It normalizes and publicizes their awful conspiracy theories and backwards thought, and sends the message to other ignorant people out there that we’ve reached a point where these hateful ideologies are accepted. That brand of thinking belongs in the dark, not in the limelight.
However misguided and thoughtless his initial invitation of Steve Bannon to the upcoming New Yorker Festival, I am happy that Editor of the magazine David Remnick has now rescinded that invite. Remnick took a lot of grief on Twitter from readers and his staff alike, before making his decision to dis-invite Bannon, saying: “I don’t want well-meaning readers and staff members to think that I’ve ignored their concerns. I’ve thought this through and talked to colleagues — and I’ve re-considered. I’ve changed my mind." And in today’s sensationalist media atmosphere, that’s a big turnabout. Especially coming from a man who is Editor, the boss of a literal and figurative institution of American journalism. Remnick and The New Yorker have done so much important work in recent times, his original decision to invite Bannon should not define him, rather his ability to realize his mistake and make it right should. In this specific era of seemingly endless white male power, here’s a guy who has conceded that power in the face of scrutiny. The cynical argument would be that Remnick caved in the face of losing money on the event, with other guests and perhaps sponsors threatening to pull out- but I think he deserves a bit more credit that than that.
I don’t know or work with Remnick personally, so I’ll leave it to New Yorker staff writer Adam Davidson to offer this defense of Remnick (from a thread posted to Davidson’s Twitter feed):
“I don't think I would have invited Bannon and I am glad he disinvited him.
But it has been painful, even maddening, to see the personalized outrage at David.
David has been a clear voice throughout this awful period. And he has empowered, encouraged, demanded the writers who work for him to be our very best at what he has consistently made clear is a terrifying and dangerous time.
I feel a freedom and moral clarity at [The] New Yorker that I am not sure my colleagues at other publications have. That's because of David. We would know much less about Trump and his cronies were it not for David. And we would lose one of our most powerful voices against him.
In short, David has more than earned the right to fuck up once in a while.
Also, I've never had a boss who is so open to criticism. He spent all day today on the phone with writers and staffers telling him he's wrong. He listened, he heard.
In general, I agree with those who don't want to give white nationalists platforms. Cover them, critically, but don't interview them without context. I've given others a hard time for doing so [...] We are all learning how to deal with this awful time.
Today has been a day of thoughtful, open, angry conversation among those of us who work [at The] New Yorker.
The conversations were precisely what you want from your media: we discussed our obligations to the public, the nature of journalism, our personal contempt for Bannon.
I often tweet about how their should be higher costs for coddling Trump. I did so this very morning.
But that should be taken in context. The context, here, is years of David's own writing and the writing he made possible.
David has driven me, personally, crazy many times--as he knows because I tell him and he hears it. He's not flawless. God knows.
But precisely those of us who find Bannon loathsome should remember--maybe in a few days or a week--how much we need him.”