My friend, Amy Wax, the pariah

Spectator TV viewers may recall that in last week’s Americano podcast, Freddy Gray interviewed the University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax, whose wrist had just been smartly rapped by the administration for her unfashionable generalisations about race and sex. While Professor Wax spoke ably on her own behalf, Amy, as I know her, has been a friend of mine for several years. These scolding financial and reputational sanctions have been in the works for almost as long, so now seems an apt juncture at which to lay down my own marker. Unlike so many of her half-hearted defenders, I’ll put myself firmly in her corner without holding my nose.

By contrast, John McWhorter, a courageously moderate black independent thinker before he was lured into the role of demi-woke pleaser at the New York Times, is (or at least was) also a friend of Amy’s, though last week he had a funny way of demonstrating his loyalty. Slamming her views for most of his column (the headline on his piece called them ‘outrageous’, ‘demeaning’ and ‘dangerous’), McWhorter finally rounded on the verdict that this fish-out-of-water conservative in a tank of progressive piranhas didn’t deserve to be formally punished. So far, for centrists commenting on her case, this has been the form: reams of denunciation and distaste, followed by a begrudging espousal of free speech. The Bulwark, a US conservative opinion website, conceded that protecting academic freedom entails defending the expression of ‘odious views without sugarcoating their odiousness’.

I’ve friends who don’t share my politics, and I suppose I’d prefer they at least defend my right to free speech come what may. Yet in the perfect world I’d opt for advocates who didn’t feel obliged to slam my ‘loathsome opinions’ (The Bulwark) and ‘views that most reasonable people find repellent’ (McWhorter) beforehand.