Gosh, we cats had no idea that the Breitbarters and the right-wing haters cared so much about the Chicago Review of Books. Don't they think they're just a bunch of irrelevant, pointy-headed liberals whose opinions will scatter like dust in the Trumpian winds?
But, no. They're all super-upset that CHIRB has declared a 2017 boycott of Simon & Schuster titles as a protest against the publisher's alleged signing of Twitter terrorist and Dylann Roof soul mate Milos Yiannopoulos to a $250,000 book deal. "War on speech!" they bleat.
Ya know what? A boycott is free speech, too.
As the old malapropism goes, if Richard Simon (Carly's dad) were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave. What would he think of his company getting in cahoots with the likes of Yiannopoulos? Somebody at S&S's conservative imprint obviously thinks that Yiannopoulos will rake in some bucks. But if the economic argument works for the right wing, it works for us, too.
So while the Republicans are hell-bent on denying the Democratic coalition access to the ballot box, we can still vote with our pocketbooks. Don't be looking for us to buy any Simon & Schuster books until this is proven untrue or the publisher scraps the deal.
The spluttering righties have it all wrong, anyway. A boycott of Simon & Schuster is not anti-free-speech. Hijacking a shipment of Simon & Schuster books and burning them in a public square would be anti-free-speech (and destruction of property). Refusing to buy books from a publisher that promotes a self-loathing gay racist — just like refusing to buy Trump "wines" or Trump ties — is an economic weapon. We cats intend to use it everywhere we can, and we PURR.
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