As a lifelong Charlottean, my heart sank when protests demanding answers about the mysterious shooting of Keith Scott, a reportedly unarmed black man, by a police officer descended into violence on Wednesday night in downtown Charlotte. Windows on buildings and cars were smashed, and a number of major streets highways in and around downtown were clogged up by protesters. A number of major companies were so unnerved that they urged non-essential employees not to come downtown on Thursday.
But the people who caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage weren’t the only knuckleheads. A prominent conservative blogger apparently thought it would be a good idea to meet violence with violence. What did it get him? The temporary loss of his Twitter account, a suspension from his gig as a newspaper columnist, and possibly the loss of his day job.
Late Wednesday night, Glenn Reynolds, the man behind the right-leaning libertarian blog Instapundit, was watching protesters walking along I-277, which loops around downtown. The highway was one of many that was shut down as a result of the protests. Reynolds had an idea for how to deal with this problem, and took to Twitter to share it.
As deplorable as the violence was, Reynolds’ idea is at least as bad, and possibly worse.
Reynolds is also a columnist for USA Today and a law professor at the University of Tennessee, Twitter exploded with demands for them to hold him to account.
@UTKLaw are you aware of the statement that Glenn Reynolds made? https://t.co/4N8MLYDZym
— Amber Dawn (@Amber_Aquarius) September 22, 2016
Are you insane? Like, legitimately? I'm reporting you to your employer and Twitter for inciting violence. Fucking unreal.
— Namir Yedid (@NamirYedid) September 22, 2016
https://twitter.com/publictransprt/status/778817734029086720
@Tennessean @sbarchenger @KnoxvilleNews @UTKLaw @UTKnoxville
Fire Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds for his tweet pic.twitter.com/uz4YkotWfs— Optimist long memory (@Rockmedia) September 22, 2016
By Thursday morning, Twitter had suspended Reynolds’ account. At first, Reynolds was unrepentant. He argued that since trapping people in cars is a violent activity, “driving on is self-preservation.” He expanded on it in an interview with Hugh Hewitt. Listen here.
Hewitt said that he believed Reynolds meant, “If you’re threatened, you can defend yourself.” Reynolds agreed, but conceded he might have been too “pithy” and wasn’t sure if he’d post it again. However, he made no apology for the sentiment, since blocking people on an interstate was, by definition, not peaceful protest.
In an updated post, Reynolds pointed out that he has, in the past, called for the hot lights to be turned on police misconduct. However, he said, blocking an interstate is not a peaceful act. For that reason, if he were in a car and he encountered protesters blocking the road, he wouldn’t stop for them.
While he said that “I wouldn’t actually aim for people blocking the road,” he would keep driving because “I fear for my safety.” He conceded that “run them down” didn’t really express that feeling, but claimed that being limited to 140 characters “stands in the way of nuance.” Later in the day, Twitter lifted the suspension when Reynolds agreed to delete the tweet.
Apparently officials at Tennessee didn’t buy that excuse. Melanie Wilson, dean of Tennessee’s College of Law, announced that she and other university officials have launched an investigation into what she described as Reynolds’ “irresponsible use of his platform.” Wilson condemned Reynolds’ remarks in the strongest terms, saying that they did not “reflect the values of the college or university.” She also added that while Tennessee is committed to free speech, she and her colleagues “do not support violence or language that encourages violence.”
Reynolds remained defiant for most of the afternoon. However, his tone changed when it became apparent that USA Today didn’t buy his excuse either. Editorial page editor Bill Sternberg announced that Reynolds’ tweet fell short of USA Today’s expectation that its columnists “provide thoughtful, reasoned contributions to the national conversation, on all platforms.” For that reason, Reynolds’ twice-weekly column has been suspended for one month.
Sternberg’s statement also included a link to a statement from Reynolds apologizing for not living up to “my own standards” or “USA Today’s standards.” He said that he meant to say that a driver who encounters protesters blocking the road should “keep driving” or “don’t stop.”
Sorry, Glenn. Not convinced. I didn’t even go near Twitter on a regular basis because like you, I find it hard to constrain my thoughts to 140 characters. But I at least make the effort. You expect us to believe that a lowly blogger can do it, but a law professor can’t? Moreover, if a student at Tennessee or any other school tweeted calls for violence in Charlotte, that student would have been suspended, or even expelled, before sunrise–and wouldn’t be able to use lack of nuance as a defense.
This is no different. At a minimum, Reynolds should get a one-year suspension, and it wouldn’t be out of line to fire him. Drop Dean Wilson a line at mdwilson at utk dot edu.
