I’d like to see the signatories to that Harper’s letter try again, but this time around — instead of discursive triangulation about opinions of opinions — write a manifesto that clearly states what they collectively believe should happen. Sure, fine, free speech, vibrant debate, and all the rest, great — but to what ends? What bedrock principles do they agree on? You may ask if we need another one of those. Well, did we really need a bunch of well-known people to say that everyone should get to say stuff? No. But a bunch of Big Names saying What Is To Be Done? Actually, yeah, we could use more things like that. At least there’d be something specific to agree or disagree about. But the letter they wrote is mostly a high-culture equivalent of GOP press secretaries and their sophistical judo. There’s no there there, or even a there where it could be.