"I'm trying to do the best I can."
 | By Indrani Sen Culture Editor, Opinion |
Fans of Roxane Gay know that she doesn't write or think in broad strokes. Instead, she dwells in the gray spaces, the nuances, that awkward limbo between certainties. |
She is, after all, the writer who embraced the label "bad feminist" because, as she wrote in 2014: "I am human. I am messy. I'm not trying to be an example. I am not trying to be perfect. I am not trying to say I have all the answers. I am not trying to say I'm right. I am just trying — trying to support what I believe in, trying to do some good in this world, trying to make some noise with my writing while also being myself." |
Gay's brand of nuance is remarkable in that it does not veer into both-sides-ism. She has deep ethical and political convictions, and she strives to stay true to those convictions in her actions. She acknowledges, however, that complete moral purity is impossible when we live in a complicated and fractured society. |
She explores these ideas in her guest essay today on the controversy over the podcaster Joe Rogan, who has frequently aired misinformation about Covid-19 and the vaccines that many Americans still refuse. Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and other musicians and podcasters have taken their works off Spotify to protest Rogan's presence there, and this week Gay joined them, removing her podcast, "The Roxane Gay Agenda," from the platform. |
Gay has taken a similar stand before, she points out, pulling out of a book deal with a publisher who bought a book from an author that she morally objected to. But, she acknowledges, she continues to publish her books with another publishing house, despite it being owned by a company whose actions she finds appalling. |
"I am not looking for purity; it doesn't exist," she explains. "Instead, I'm trying to do the best I can, and take a stand when I think I can have an impact." Still, acknowledging the messiness of moral choices is no reason to shirk making them. |
"Joe Rogan and others like him can continue to proudly encourage misinformation and bigotry to vast audiences," Gay writes. "They will be well rewarded for their efforts. The platforms sharing these rewards can continue to look the other way. But today at least, I won't." |
Here's what we're focusing on today: |
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