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Quillette

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Quillette
Editor-in-chiefClaire Lehmann
Senior editor, LondonJamie Palmer
Canadian editor, TorontoJonathan Kay
Categories
FounderClaire Lehmann
Founded2015;9 years ago(2015)
CountryAustralia
Based inSydney
LanguageEnglish
WebsitequilletteEdit this at Wikidata

Quillette(/kwɪˈlɛt/) is an online magazine founded by Australian journalistClaire Lehmann.The magazine primarily focuses onscience,technology,news,culture,andpolitics.

Quillettewas created in 2015 to focus on scientific topics, but has come to focus on coverage of political and cultural issues concerningfreedom of speechandidentity politics.It has been described aslibertarian-leaning,[2][3][4]"the right wing's highly influential answer toSlate"[5]as well as an "anti-PC soapbox."[6]

History

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Quillettewas founded in October 2015 inSydney,Australia, by Claire Lehmann.[7]

It is named after the French word "quillette"which means awithycutting planted so that it takes root—used here as a metaphor for an essay.[8]Lehmann stated thatQuillettewas created with the aim of "setting up a space where we could critique the blank slate orthodoxy" – a theory of human development which assumes individuals are largely products ofnurture, not nature– but that it "naturally evolved into a place where people critique other aspects of what they see asleft-wingorthodoxy ".[2][9]

In August 2017,Quillettepublished an article in which five academics expressed support for James Damore, author of the "Google's Ideological Echo Chamber"memo. According toPolitico,Quillette'swebsite crashed because of the popularity of the article. Lehmann was told by her tech staff the cause may have been aDDoS attack.[1][10]In its profile ofQuillette,Politicoreported that Lehmann knew about thegrievance studies affairbefore it was first reported in October 2018. In response,Quilletteagain published comments from five like-minded academics.[1][11]

In May 2019,Quillettepublished an article that alleged connections betweenantifaactivists and national-level reporters who cover the far-right based on the accounts these reporters followed on Twitter.[12][13]Alexander Reid Rossand another journalist who were mentioned in the article said that they and other journalists received death threats after the claims were published.[13]

In August 2019,Quillettepublished a hoax article titled "DSA Is Doomed" submitted by an anonymous writer claiming to be a construction worker named Archie Carter who was critical of the organisationDemocratic Socialists of America.[14]The magazine retracted the article after the hoax was brought to its attention. According to socialist magazineJacobin,the hoax broughtQuillette'sfact-checking and editorial standards into question.[15]

Quillettehas published articles supporting the "human biodiversity movement"(HBM),[16][17]which attempts to reintroduce ideas fromeugenicsandscientific racisminto the mainstream.[18][19]HBM refers to beliefs that human behaviors are impacted by inherited genes, and certain predispositions are unique to certain ethnic groups.[19][20]Authors who published articles inQuillettesupporting these claims include Bo Winegard, Ben Winegard,John Paul Wright,andBrian Boutwell.[20][21][22]Quillettepublished articles supportingNoah Carl.[19][20]

Reception

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In an article forThe Outline,writer Gaby Del Valle classifiesQuilletteas "libertarian-leaning", "academia-focused" and "a hub forreactionarythought. "[2]In the Seattle newspaperThe Stranger,Katie Herzog writes that it has won praise "from bothSteven PinkerandRichard Dawkins",adding that" most of the contributors are academics but the site reads more like a well researched opinion section than an academic journal ".[23]In an opinion piece forUSA Today,columnistCathy YoungdescribesQuilletteas "libertarian-leaning".[3]An article inVicedescribedQuilletteas a "libertarian magazine".[4]

PoliticoandVoxreported thatQuillettehas been associated with the "intellectual dark web",a term used, according toPolitico,to describe "a loose cadre of academics, journalists and tech entrepreneurs who view themselves as standing up to the knee-jerk left-leaning politics of academia and the media."[1][24]Writing forThe New York Times,Bari Weissreferred to Claire Lehmann as a figure in the "intellectual dark web".[1][25]

Writing forThe Guardian,Jason Wilson describesQuilletteas "a website obsessed with the alleged war on free speech on campus".[26]Writing forThe Washington Post,Aaron Hanlon describesQuilletteas a "magazine obsessed with the evils of 'critical theory' andpostmodernism".[27]

Writing forNew Yorkmagazine's columnThe Daily IntelligencerAndrew SullivandescribedQuilletteas "refreshingly heterodox" in 2018.[28]

In a piece forSlate,Daniel Engber suggested that while some of its output was "excellent and interesting", the averageQuillettestory "is dogmatic, repetitious, and a bore".[29]He wrote that it describes "even modest harms inflicted viagroupthink—e.g., dropped theater projects, flagging book sales, condemnatory tweets—as 'serious adversity' ", arguing that various authors inQuilletteengage in the samevictim mentalitythat they attempt to criticise.[29]In an article forThe Daily Beast,writer Alex Leo describedQuilletteas "a site that fancies itself intellectually contrarian but mostly publishesright-wingtalking points couched ingrievance politics".[30]

References

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  1. ^abcdeLester, Amelia."The Voice of the 'Intellectual Dark Web': Claire Lehmann's online magazine, Quillette, prides itself on publishing 'dangerous' ideas other outlets won't touch. How far is it willing to go?".Politico Magazine(November/December 2018).ISSN2381-1595.Archivedfrom the original on 17 May 2020.Retrieved12 November2018.
  2. ^abcDel Valle, Gaby (22 September 2017)."Conservatives love playing the victim".The Outline.Archivedfrom the original on 23 September 2017.Retrieved20 June2018.In an interview with Psychology Today last week, Claire Lehmann, the founder of the libertarian-leaning, academia-focused digital magazine Quillette, suggested that the website was a refuge from the political correctness and leftist bias that allegedly plague both academia and the mainstream media.
  3. ^abYoung, Cathy(8 August 2017)."Googler fired for diversity memo had legit points on gender".USA Today.Archivedfrom the original on 8 August 2017.Retrieved17 August2017.
  4. ^abMatsakis, Louise; Koeblerand, Jason; Emerson, Sarah (7 August 2017)."Here Are the Citations for the Anti-Diversity Manifesto Circulating at Google".Vice.Archivedfrom the original on 30 September 2018.Retrieved20 June2018.The author also used news articles from outlets like The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic and The New Yorker, as well as smaller publications like libertarian magazine Quillette.
  5. ^Thielman, Sam (2019)."Villains".Columbia Journalism Review.Archivedfrom the original on 6 June 2023.Retrieved5 June2023.
  6. ^Holly High and Joshua Reno. "Actually existing anarchist anthropology," in Holly High and Joshua Reno (eds.),As if already free: Anthropology and Activism after David Graeber(pp. 79-95). London: Pluto Press: 2023), p. 89.
  7. ^Duke, Jennifer (1 May 2019)."'Huge gap in the market': the local publisher winning where others won't tread ".Sydney Morning Herald.Archivedfrom the original on 2 March 2021.Retrieved3 June2019.
  8. ^Lehmann, Claire(7 July 2018)."From the Editor".Quillette.Archived fromthe originalon 1 October 2018.Retrieved1 October2018.In French, a synonym for quillette is bouture d'osier, which is a type of wood off-cutting used to grow new trees. An off-cutting planted in the ground that grows into a tree – this seemed to me a great metaphor for an essay.
  9. ^Lester, Amelia."The Voice of the 'Intellectual Dark Web': Claire Lehmann's online magazine, Quillette, prides itself on publishing 'dangerous' ideas other outlets won't touch. How far is it willing to go?".Politico Magazine(November/December 2018).ISSN2381-1595.Archivedfrom the original on 17 May 2020.Retrieved12 November2018.Contributors often shared Lehmann's interest in debunking the "blank slate" theory of human development, which postulates that individuals are largely products of nurture, not nature. But, Lehmann told me, it quickly grew beyond that topic. In "setting up a space where we could critique the blank slate orthodoxy," she says, Quillette "has naturally evolved into a place where people critique other aspects of what they see as left-wing orthodoxy.
  10. ^Duke, Jennifer (1 May 2019)."'Huge gap in the market': the local publisher winning where others won't tread ".Sydney Morning Herald.Archivedfrom the original on 2 March 2021.Retrieved3 June2019.
  11. ^Bartlett, Tom (22 May 2019)."Opinion: The Academy's New Favorite Hate-Read".The Chronicle of Higher Education.Archivedfrom the original on 8 June 2019.Retrieved9 January2020.
  12. ^Lenihan, Eoin (29 May 2019)."It's Not Your Imagination: The Journalists Writing About Antifa Are Often Their Cheerleaders".Quillette.Archivedfrom the original on 2 January 2020.Retrieved11 January2020.
  13. ^abBurley, Shane; Ross, Alexander (19 June 2019)."Opinion: What happened when I was the target of alt-right death threats".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 19 June 2019.Retrieved19 June2019.
  14. ^Freedman, Aaron (16 August 2019)."How the right wing fell for its own fables about the working class".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on 1 December 2019.Retrieved14 January2020.
  15. ^Freedman, Aaron (8 August 2019)."Exclusive: We Found Archie Carter".Jacobin.Archivedfrom the original on 9 August 2019.Retrieved9 August2019.
  16. ^"On the Reality of Race and the Abhorrence of Racism".Quillette.23 June 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 26 December 2023.Retrieved26 December2023.
  17. ^"On the Reality of Race & the Abhorrence of Racism Part II: Human Biodiversity & Its Implications".Quillette.9 August 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 26 December 2023.Retrieved26 December2023.
  18. ^Minkowitz, Donna (5 December 2019)."Why Racists (and Liberals!) Keep Writing for 'Quillette'".The Nation.Archivedfrom the original on 17 April 2023.Retrieved30 April2023.
  19. ^abcJones, Sarah (2 January 2020)."Will the 2020s Be the Decade of Eugenics?".New York Magazine.Archivedfrom the original on 22 February 2023.Retrieved21 February2023.
  20. ^abcRichards, Imogen; Jones, Callum (2021). "Quillette, classical liberalism, and the international New Right".Contemporary Far-Right Thinkers and the Future of Liberal Democracy.London: Routledge. pp. 126–127.ISBN978-1003105176.
  21. ^"A Tale of Two Bell Curves".Quillette.27 March 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 28 December 2023.Retrieved28 December2023.
  22. ^"On the Reality of Race and the Abhorrence of Racism".Quillette.23 June 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 26 December 2023.Retrieved28 December2023.
  23. ^Herzog, Katie (31 May 2018)."Wrongspeak Is a Safe Space for Dangerous Ideas".The Stranger.Archivedfrom the original on 8 June 2018.Retrieved2 October2018.Most of the contributors are academics but the site reads more like a well researched opinion section than an academic journal.
  24. ^Beauchamp, Zack (3 July 2019)."The assault on conservative journalist Andy Ngo, explained".Vox.Archivedfrom the original on 7 August 2019.Retrieved10 August2019.
  25. ^Weiss, Bari(8 May 2018)."Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on 20 May 2018.Retrieved1 October2018.Other figures in the I.D.W., like Claire Lehmann, the founder and editor of the online magazineQuillette,and Debra Soh, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience, self-deported from the academic track, sensing that the spectrum of acceptable perspectives and even areas of research was narrowing.
  26. ^Wilson, Jason (18 March 2018)."How to troll the left: understanding the rightwing outrage machine".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 6 September 2018.Retrieved20 June2018.Nevertheless, along with spreading the video, Ngo wrung from the evening an article forQuillette,a website obsessed with the alleged war on free speech on campus.
  27. ^Hanlon, Aaron (31 August 2018)."Postmodernism didn't cause Trump. It explains him".The Washington Post.Archivedfrom the original on 30 September 2018.Retrieved2 October2018.InQuillette— an online magazine obsessed with the evils of 'critical theory' and postmodernism — Matt McManus reflects on 'The Emergence and Rise of Postmodern Conservatism.'
  28. ^Sullivan, Andrew (21 September 2018)."America, Land of Brutal Binaries".New York.Archivedfrom the original on 4 October 2018.Retrieved3 October2018.As Claire Lehmann, the founding editor of the refreshingly heterodox new websiteQuillettehas put it, 'the Woke Left has a moral hierarchy with white men at the bottom.'
  29. ^abEngber, Daniel (8 January 2019)."Free Thought for the Closed-Minded".Slate.Archivedfrom the original on 27 November 2020.Retrieved9 January2019.
  30. ^Leo, Alex (23 March 2019)."Quillette, Ben Shapiro, and the Myth of Conservative 'Facts'".Archivedfrom the original on 16 November 2020.Retrieved20 June2019.
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