When people become scared to speak freely or are punished for expressing an unpopular view, American society inches closer to becoming homogenous, and where freedoms and diverse thoughts are suppressed.Īre you for real? Your career is highlighted by trying to shut entire media organizations down for articles that someone didn’t like. When it comes to the cancel culture debate, an important litmus test to apply when thinking about whether something?or someone?should be canceled is this: Does the punishment fit the crime? Vigorous debate, and even unpopular ideas, must be protected. The whole thing would make me laugh if it didn’t make me actually feel ill.
In a piece that originally appeared on InsideSources and is now popping up in actual newspaper op-eds, like the Jacksoville Journal-Courier, Harder argues that we need to stop trying to cancel people for speech. Given all of that, it’s incredibly rich for Harder to now publish an op-ed decrying “cancel culture.” And, yet, that’s exactly what he’s done. And I’ve certainly spoken about the chilling effects of the lawsuit that was filed against me. There have been stories about the Gawker Effect creating a real chill on investigative reporting, especially into malfeasance. In fact, nearly every aspect of Harder’s claim to fame is built around his ability to threaten or sue media organizations into silence.Īnd the impact of his lawsuits has been very real. He also threatened the New York Times over its big Harvey Weinstein expose. He sued the New York Times over an opinion piece on behalf of Donald Trump’s campaign (and lost), he helped a cryptocurrency company sue Forbes for an article about how the company was structured, he tried (and failed) to get multiple books about Donald Trump blocked from publication - including suing over the book by niece Mary Trump and threatening a suit over Steve Bannon’s book. Over the years, we’ve seen Harder threaten and/or sue plenty of media organizations over completely ridiculous things. Hell, he just published a whole book in which the title itself champions the fact that he killed off Gawker. Harder has, in fact, relished his reputation for threatening and suing news organizations that publish information his clients dislike. Of course, Harder’s bigger claim to fame was his success in shutting down Gawker, thanks to a concerted effort by a billionaire who didn’t like Gawker’s reporting. As a bit of a reminder/disclaimer, Charles Harder was the main lawyer in the lawsuit against us, in which the plaintiff said directly that his intent was that we needed to be shut down.
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