Their Job-- To Publish, Not To Cancel

Now for some good news. Some publishers are standing up to the mob. At Simon & Schuster the mob reacted quickly when the publisher contracted for a book by former vice president Mike Pence.

Staffers circulated a petition demanding that the publisher cancel the Pence book. The reasons were thoroughly predictable. The Wall Street Journal reports:

They demanded that the company cancel Mr. Pence’s book, refrain from signing deals with other Trump administration figures and cut off a distribution relationship with Post Hill Press, a publisher of conservative books.

It was unclear how many signatories the petitions had.

An online petition says Simon & Schuster “has chosen complicity in perpetuating white supremacy by publishing Mike Pence and continuing to distribute books for Post Hill Press.” The petition accused Mr. Pence of advocating for policies that were racist, sexist and discriminatory toward LGBTQ+ people, among other criticisms of his tenure as a public official. 

“This is not a difference of opinions; this is legitimizing bigotry,” the petition said.

These taglines are becoming cliches-- white supremacy, bigotry and discriminatory policies. You will see, yet again, that no differences of opinion are tolerated. They are intrinsically evil and must be silenced.

CEO, Jonathan Karp rejected the petition:

In a letter to staffers, Mr. Karp said, “As a publisher in this polarized era, we have experienced outrage from both sides of the political divide and from different constituencies and groups. But we come to work each day to publish, not cancel, which is the most extreme decision a publisher can make, and one that runs counter to the very core of our mission to publish a diversity of voices and perspectives.”

Nicely put-- their job is to publish, not to cancel.

Q.E.D.