Leading article: Thinking allowed

Tuesday 04 December 2007 20:00 EST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

"We live," said Martin Amis in his memoir, Experience, "in the age of mass loquacity". Indeed, we do. It's a feature of contemporary life he might have had cause to regret in recent months, as his own contributions to the conversation of the cappuccino-sipping cognoscenti have not been such as to win him any well, let's not use words like "brownie points" in a debate already fuelled by accusations of racism and worse.

Ever since Amis confessed, in an interview last autumn, to an urge to make the Muslim community "suffer" for terrorist acts done in the name of Islam, the gloves have been off, as a succession of writers and journalists Terry Eagleton, Ronan Bennett, our own Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, among others have led a groundswell of outraged opinion in response. In the course of a distinguished, and at times, explosive, literary career, Amis has spawned a smogasbord of spats, and charges ranging from anti-Semitism (Time's Arrow) to misogyny (everything). He has always responded with spirited eloquence, but he has never yet provoked what he calls the "calumny" of being called a racist.

In an article at the weekend, and in a debate at Manchester University on Monday night, he declared that he did not "advocate" any discriminatory treatment of Muslims" and "never" had. Mr Amis is right to stand up for the right, in a culture of free speech, to think aloud. The spoken word is, he said, paraphrasing Nabokov, a provisional but necessary part of debate: "I think like a genius, I write like a distinguished man of letters, I talk like an idiot". We can only applaud the right to be an idiot.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in