Playing nice hasn’t worked

Even when I keep quiet about being cancelled, the censors don’t invite me back. So I might as well tell the truth about that too

Helen Joyce

IF YOU’RE A WRITER, ARTIST OR ACADEMIC who has strayed beyond the narrow bounds of approved discourse, two consequences will be intimately familiar. The first is that it becomes harder to get a hearing about anything. The second is that if you do manage to say anything publicly — especially if you talk about the silencing — it will be taken as proof that you have not been silenced. This is the logic of witch-ducking. If a woman drowns, she isn’t a witch; if she floats, she is, and must be dispatched some other way. Either way, she ends up dead. The only counter to this is specific examples. But censorship is usually covert: when you’re passed over to speak at a conference, exhibit in a gallery or apply for a…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, November 2023

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