Short version: he said you aren't really a man if you never tried to rape a girl. Outrage ensued, and there are currently calls to fire him.
A few things. First, it's really hard to get me to come down against free speech or against academic freedom. You, my very few readers, know that. I got twitchy about Alex Jones getting booted from social media, and that dude is lying scum. Langbert wrote a blog post which he intended to be humorous. People got offended. Guess which side is my default side, regardless of the politics?
However...
I'm a big Jonathan Swift fan, and in particular, a fan of "A Modest Proposal." Go figure, right? Here's the thing about "A Modest Proposal." Swift wasn't calling the Irish a bunch of whiny pussies. He was excoriating the English. It was clear, not only from the essay itself, but from Swift, who he was and his writings.
Mitchell Langbert? Read through his blog a bit. He actually did mean to diminish rape accusations. He's a right-winger, and there is nothing that I can see to suggest that he takes rape seriously at all. In this post, he refers to Kavanaugh's "spin-the-bottle" activities. Yes, Langbert is diminishing rape.
If you think you are the heir to Jonathan Swift, but don't get that Swift was on the Irish side, it doesn't give you any political cover. And you're making it hard to take your side.
And I, as a free speech absolutist and academic freedom absolutist, want to take your side.
However, if your mouth waters at the description of Irish babies, you didn't get Swift's joke. You're just a psychopath. Hannibal Lecter would misread "A Modest Proposal," and Langbert's defense of his post is a little Lecter-esque.
If Amy Schumer had written that piece, nobody would wonder what her intentions were.
Humor is funny that way. Don't tell rape jokes if you look and act like a rape apologist. You make my job as a free speech absolutist that much harder.
Busy morning...