A Very Exacting Analysis Of A Weakness In Malone's Libel Suit

Diana West Clarifies, and Makes A Case For Free Speech

When I read this, I discovered for the first time, that statements made against Dr. Malone by the defendants in Malone’s libel suit, may not have said the things he accuses them of having said—quite apart from whether any of of think it amounts to a good reason to sue for $25 mil. inside the medical freedom tent in 2023, as people continue to die suddenly all around us.

I would like to know the answer.

I would like to get to the bottom of some thing.

I honestly have been a coward about this whole story, afraid to lose friends and allies on both sides, and just wanting to hide in a gin mill till it’s over. Many people who came through severe trauma in their parent’s divorce have this weakness. A child can actually not “afford” to lose either parent, and so winds up instead losing his or her own emotions, and voice.

I wish I were less conflict averse, less of a coward. And I mean that.

“I have friends on both sides” is a blood boiling kind of cowardly thing to say.

I could see that the amount being sued over was seemingly obscene, but I was open to the argument that Dr. Malone had been in some way seriously libeled and craved some kind of apology, at least. It was all a blur, as I hid in my gin mill and hoped it would blow over.

But now for the second time, the sheer exacting power of Diana West’s prose made me come out with my journalistic hands over my head and admit: “There are things here that it would be a serious breach not to report. Get as mad as you like. Fire me, disavow me: I have to face facts.”

As I was pondering how to describe my enthusiasm for Diana West’s relationship to facts. (A fact is not two dimensional, it is spherical, like an alloy.) Dull writers don’t mint “facts” like this, but great writers do, and Diana West is a great writer.

Her name, to me, is like “Zildjan.”

Zildjan?

Yes—a drummer’s reference. I’m a drummer, and proud owner since 1989, of a beautiful Zildjan ride cymbal, currently (for many years) enjoying life in the rehearsal space of my ex husband, Bob. I got to speak to him about my beloved cymbal, just yesterday. It’s fine, and being played, regularly.

I miss it.

As writers go, I confess to being tangential. I can’t help it. Diana West made me think of Zildjan, and I heard the “secret alloy” in my mind, and felt it was a perfect metaphor. I need to write to Michel Moushabek and ask why he hasn't published a book about Zildjan, or perhaps he has. Last I met with him we were going to do a book about Lynn Margulis, who pitched a mad book to us both about Emily Dickinson, in 2009, which Moushabek agreed to publish, though neither of us understood what Lynn was talking about, and I was supposed to be the writer. A crazy man Lynn knew left a pile of notebooks detailing his life’s work supposedly de-coding all of Dickinson’s poems as secret code for lesbian erotica. I wound up angering Lynn when I got cold feet. I just didn’t think we should do it. We didn’t— but she did, without me.

Ok, now, where are we?

You’ll find me of late sitting in the far back of dark NYC diners with a highlighter, highlighting lines from West’s American Betrayal: The Secret Assault On Our Nation’s Character.

It’s so good.

You can read West’s latest piece here, and ponder the facts at press time:

https://dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/4648/-Wake-Up-to-Free-Speech.aspx

Turns out, the comments the defendants are accused of saying are presently missing from the record.

Stay tuned. If this is not the case, or if the statements are located, we will deal with it in due course.

In the last few weeks alone, I’ve been called “not a journalist,” “ a shitty researcher,” and “controlled opposition.” A sellout, for Bobby Kennedy. A shill for the virus pushers. I am used to being called much worse things.

I agree with Diana, we should by and large let people say whatever they like about us.

Two of the best words in the English language are: “So what?”