“They treat noxious ideologies as if they deserve a platform, as if a galling willingness to entertain bullshit is some bold demonstration of true intellectualism.”

— Writer Roxane Gay, @rgay, 3 September 2018 on the occasion of white supremacist Steve Bannon being invited to speak at the New Yorker Festival.

“This decision demonstrates how the intellectual class doesn't truly understand racism or xenophobia. They treat it like an intellectual project, where perhaps if we ask ‘hard question’ and bandy about ‘controversial’ ideas, good work is being done.” — Gay.