The Freedom Not to Publish

With the shift back to a Comments Free For All comes a necessary rehash for all the reasons not to have one in the first place. Here, I...

With the shift back to a Comments Free For All comes a necessary rehash for all the reasons not to have one in the first place.

Here, I hope, comes my last comment on the subject. As somebody smarter than me once noted, the freedom to publish includes the freedom not to publish. It includes the freedom to be selective on the range of views expressed in the medium you host.

This blog has, from the start, sought to provide an outlet for the kinds of considered opinion too often shut out of the polarized mainstream media’s take on Venezuelan public affairs. That’s a mission that can’t be sustained when extremist views are allowed to run off with each and every thread.

Readers interested in the hyper-polarised game will find no lack of outlets for their views. Readers interested in a less inflamatory take have precious few other options.

Caracas Chronicles is not going to play along with the dynamics of breathless polarization. To do so would be to bury this blog alive.

I hope that’s clear. It is, in any case, my last word on the subject.