Not guilty? Doesn't matter.

Mainstream media has no interest in the truth.

I recently read a piece about Junot Díaz, the author of a book I loved called “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,” which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2008. He was once celebrated for how he wrote of immigrant culture and the particularities of the Dominican experience in New York City. He was awarded a MacArthur “Genius Grant” in 2012.

And then Díaz got #metoo-ed in 2018. Now, it seems, the worst thing he did was give an unwanted kiss on the cheek. There was an investigation by the Pulitzer board and they found no evidence of wrong-doing. But it doesn’t matter. He is now tainted. He is still included on Vox’s list of famous men accused of sexual misconduct.

Once a darling of the Left for his embodiment of diversity and authenticity, Díaz is now considered, at the very best, questionable. Undesirable. Semi-cancelled. His blurbs in support of new authors’ books are rejected as potentially damaging to the author’s reputation he would be aiming to support. Why? Because Díaz was once accused of being a sexual predator, he is now forever disgraced. Even if the accusations are true despite investigations dismissing them (I won’t pretend to know if they are true or not), there is no forgiveness or coming back from them. There is only guilt.

It doesn’t matter that he is, still, the guy whom the literati and the broader “liberal” reading public celebrated a decade ago. Their liberalism (definition: willingness to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one's own; openness to new ideas) seems to stop at any accusation of wrong-think (or wrong-action), however untrue or simply unknowable. And given the polarization of our politics, culture and media narratives, recovery - once banishment has occurred - via the truth, proves challenging.

“In our absurdly polarized media ecosystem, I think there’s an enormous pressure to take sides that keeps publications from following the truth wherever it leads,” says Deborah Chasman, the editor of the Boston Review.

I find myself in this same unforgiving, utterly polarized media ecosystem. It doesn’t matter that I was correct about closed public schools being harmful to a generation of children. I said it too early, when it was labeled a “right-wing” (i.e. evil) viewpoint and now, I’m forever tainted as an alt-right conspiracy theorist.

As such, with the launch of my new book “Levi’s Unbuttoned”, I’m essentially persona non grata in the “mainstream” or left-leaning media. To promote my book, I have no other choice but to accept the plentiful invitations from “right-wing” media outlets which are more than happy to hear me talk about the censorship and illiberalism of the left-wing media. Which is proving itself to be true in real time, in my case.

I’ve appeared on Fox News with Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham. I’ve been featured in the Daily Wire, The Spectator and countless other publications. And I will continue to accept these invitations to speak and write, despite the deepening vilification of me - not my views per se - with every appearance.

My crime now is one of guilt by association. At this point, few, even on the Left, would argue my assertion that prolonged school closures were extremely harmful. But now, I’m simply evil because I agree to talk to Ingraham.

Friends from my old life - self-identified “liberals” - won’t touch my book with a ten-foot pole. There are no social media posts cheering with pride: “Hey check out my friend’s book!” There’s just pretending I don’t exist. It’s too shameful to admit they know me. They go so far as to not even include me as a friend from the past on college reunion look what we’re up to now and these were my friends then pages. I’m simply deleted from their histories altogether. I’m unfollowed. On social media and in life.

My very active decision is to keep speaking out, to whomever asks. I will talk to anyone who wants to talk to me. I’m aware that the Right is using my message and mere willingness to speak with them as a poke in the eye to lefties and left-leaning media. That’s fine. I just deliver my message. I disagree out loud when I disagree with some of their views. And they seem ok with that.

And spare me the you’ll do anything to hock your book. First, yes I would like people to read it. No one writes a book and hopes no one will read it.

Second, if I “hocked” my book on The View or on NPR the folks hurling accusations about my griftiness wouldn’t make such accusations. They’d say look at her getting her message out there! Which is what I’m doing. Just not where some people want me to. But those “more desirable and prestigious” invitations are closed to me, apparently. So my accusers expect me to just not care if no one reads my book. Well, I do care. So watch me go.

A big part of my message is that we need to normalize debate and dissent. So I talk to people I disagree with on some subjects, but perhaps agree on others. I’d be more than happy to do so in mainstream or left-leaning outlets even though I disagree vehemently with how they covered lockdowns and school closures and vaccine mandates.

Hey, ladies on The View - want to talk? I’d be happy to. “Talk of the Nation” on NPR - you had me on for my first book. Why not this one? Terry Gross - I’m from Philadelphia! You like talking to authors? What about me?

I’m not holding my breath waiting for a response or invitation. These media outlets brook no dissent. And true to form, they pretend that I, and others like me who write books they don’t like, don’t exist. But I do.

I’m here. And I’m not going anywhere. Certainly not quietly.