In July this year, I traveled to Rwanda with dozens of media members gathered at the Kigali Genocide Memorial and met with the Aegis Trust and the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. We were there to discuss the growing problem of hate speech around the world. I was one of two Americans in the room, which included representatives from 17 countries, listening intently to my colleagues’ concerns about the increasingly violent rhetoric that dominates American politics.
“Americans value free speech more than stopping hate speech,” is a line I’ve heard many times. And no part of me agreed.
Freedom of speech is one of the tenets we hold fast to in this country. It’s in our bones. We are taught that we have the freedom to think, feel, and be. We have the freedom to create our own stories. And that is both a privilege and a responsibility. But I worry that too often we accept the former and forget the latter.
Last month, Vice Presidential candidate J.D. Vance provided a clear example of how the stories we create in our lives can be both inspiring and dangerous. After spreading lies about immigration in Springfield, Ohio, he admitted to CNN host Dana Bash that he made up the story. As the Guardian put it simply in its headline, “JD Vance admits he is willing to ‘build stories’ to get media attention.” And in both the vice presidential debate and many subsequent interviews, he doubled down on this tactic as a means to get attention.
While this is of course concerning, it is hardly surprising to hear about political candidates choosing to engage in campaigns whose primary tactic is fear-mongering. But the fact that Vance is a critically acclaimed memoirist gives me reason to examine this moment even more carefully.
Writing a memoir is telling a story about your own subjective truth. Memoirs tend to look at the world around them with an insatiable curiosity to understand their place in it. They do their best to explore their pain in the context of a physical place and build a narrative arc around a life that can sometimes feel like chaos. Many memoirs written by Americans open a window into what it’s like to be a citizen of this country, but no two stories are the same. Go to any bookstore and you’ll find plenty of perspectives that will challenge or comfort you.
Vance’s 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy is one such perspective. He wrote about his life growing up in Ohio, and many people in this country, myself included, read it with fascination. It took me to parts of the country I didn’t know and told me stories about places I didn’t understand. I trusted the narrator, as many of us do.
However, this memoir has always been criticized. For example, in a 2022 Politico interview with Kentucky-born author Silas House, one of the leading thinkers about the South, he said, “When I criticize[Hillbilly Elegy]sometimes conservatives hide it. “Sometimes people are accused of wanting to do something like that.” In the hands of the reader…I’m not saying the book should be banned in any way…any family’s story has value, but I don’t think he generalized an entire place or people to suit his own purposes. I wish the story could have been told without doing so. ”
Since the book’s publication, Vance has gone from telling his own story to spewing hate speech. The United Nations calls it “offensive speech that targets groups or individuals on the basis of inherent characteristics (such as race, religion, or gender).” It may threaten the peace of society. ” This is an abuse of storytelling that has been proven effective by dictators and authoritarians for generations.
The aftermath of September’s presidential debate, in which Mr. Trump repeated lies made by Mr. Vance, gave us an undeniable example of how hate speech can lead to violence. In the weeks that followed, Springfield, Ohio, endured dozens of bomb threats against schools and government offices. Elementary schools were forced to evacuate, local universities opted for virtual gatherings due to safety concerns, and the city canceled its annual festival celebrating diversity, arts and culture.
In defending his lies, Vance unapologetically explained that he made up the story because he knew it would get attention. And he’s right. we’re still talking about it. I’m writing about it. It has gained traction. Springfield is still battling abuse. And our country is sliding deeper into a culture war between those who want to humanize their neighbors and those who believe their safety depends on their dehumanization.
But here’s what Vance doesn’t understand: good writers, good people, and good leaders are responsible for their own failures. They examine themselves to find their faults and admit their shortcomings. It often reflects on the people in your life, especially those who have been hurt.
There was a chance when Vance admitted that he had lied. He could have set an example by saying he did something wrong. He could have told us that he got caught up in party tactics and succumbed to peer pressure from his superiors. He could have acknowledged his incredible actions and apologized for hurting people in his home state. That’s what the main character would do.
Stories are not prescribed or set. If Vance wants to tell a story told through hate speech and call himself a savior through deliberate lies, so be it. we can’t stop him. That is the power that free speech gives us as Americans. But with his power also comes our responsibility. We don’t have to be his audience. We, the voters of this country, can decide where memoirs go. This is the story we should write. And I hope it’s kind.
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