Erick Erickson on the Cultural Revolution

At RCP, "The American Cultural Revolution":

Kevin Williamson has been fired by The Atlantic. Williamson is one of the great conservative intellectuals of our times. He has a keen wit and frequently engages in heterodox opinions that make his writing and thinking intriguing. For a decade he wrote at William F. Buckley's National Review until hired away last week by Jeffrey Goldberg, the Editor of The Atlantic.

The Atlantic fancies itself a place of intellectual diversity where the best writers across ideologies can share their views. But Williamson's hire drew burning rage from the left. Williamson's birth came from an unplanned pregnancy. Instead of aborting him, his birth mother gave him up for adoption. As you might imagine, Williamson has strongly held views on the matter of abortion. A week after hiring him, Jeffrey Goldberg bowed to the leftwing mob and fired Williamson for, in part, how he might make the pro-abortion women in the office feel.

Never mind Williamson's feelings on abortion and that he could have been aborted himself, the editor took the brave stand of worrying about the hypothetical feelings of pro-abortion women in the office. The left told us that the purges happening on college campuses were contained to the campus. Yet here we are today with one of the best voices of conservatism fired from a job for his conservative views.

It will only get worse...

Keep reading.

And on Twitter:

More from Goldberg’s memo: pic.twitter.com/gnTi9qpDZG

— Michael Calderone (@mlcalderone) April 5, 2018

I've publicly argued with Kevin Williamson (who's a friend) over harsh things he's written, but he is one of the bravest and most talented writers I know. The Atlantic's cutting him loose under left-wing fire is deplorable. But clarifying. Definitely clarifying.

— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) April 5, 2018

If they didn’t know Kevin Williamson could be callous in pursuing his arguments, they didn’t do the most basic due diligence. And I doubt that. They were mau-maued into firing an intellectually honest writer for too much honesty.

— Virginia Postrel (@vpostrel) April 5, 2018

The left & @TheAtlantic are cowards.

They don’t believe in their liberal philosophy enough to think it can withstand opposing views.

Instead, they publicly execute Kevin Williamson as an example of what happens if you DARE challenge progressive ideology.

First Kevin. Then, you

— Liz Wheeler (@Liz_Wheeler) April 5, 2018

The Left is a disaster. SHAME. https://t.co/HVtue8houo

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 5, 2018