The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) is standing up for freedom of speech against the totalitarian cancel culture. After the WSJ published an editorial on Dec. 11 by Joseph Epstein poking some fun at Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, for flaunting the title of “Dr.,” there was a “flood of media and Twitter criticism,” angry tirades demanding an apology, retraction, lifelong ban of Epstein, and the resignation of the WSJ editorial editor. Epstein was sharply criticized by Northwestern University, where he taught some 20 years ago. The school went so far as to remove Epstein’s name from its website listing past faculty. In his reply to the critics, Paul Gigot, editor of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, wrote, “My guess is that the Biden team concluded it was a chance to use the big gun of identity politics to send a message to critics as it prepares to take power. There’s nothing like playing the race or gender card to stifle criticism. These pages aren’t going to stop publishing provocative essays merely because they offend the new administration or the political censors in the media and academe.” In a report on the WSJ brouhaha, The New Criterion observed, “Last month, after the electors met to cast their votes for him, Joe Biden once again made a plea for unity. ‘Now it’s time to turn the page to unite and to heal,’ he said. We applaud that sentiment. But we wonder what he means by ‘unite’ and ‘heal.’ To judge by the actions of the institutions supporting his cause in this sorry episode, ‘turning the page’ might just be euphemism for sweeping everything and everyone out of step with his program into the oubliette” (“The ‘Dr.’ will see you now,” The New Criterion, Jan. 2021).
(Friday Church News Notes, January 8, 2021, www.wayoflife.org fbns@wayoflife.org , 866-295-4143)