Statement Of Principle by George Reisman
Statement Of Principle by George Reisman
I've heard reports from reliable sources that Harry Binswanger and Peter Schwartz are complaining that I have invaded their privacy in distributing copies of the faxes that they sent to Leonard Peikoff in preparation for the kangaroo-court conference call of September 19. Their objection is based on the premise that they have a right to make public their conclusion that we are immoral, but we have no right to make public how they reached that conclusion. Those faxes consist of nothing but vicious statements about me and my wife, Edith Packer, and were written for no other purpose than to destroy our property, The Jefferson School. That is clear from reading them. We obtained the faxes from Leonard Peikoff, who afterwards sent them to us without any accompanying statement of conditions concerning their use. In the circumstances, even if such conditions had been stated and we had agreed to them, we would have been under no obligation to honor them. There can be no obligation to keep the light of public disclosure away from vile deeds, which can succeed only in an environment of ignorance and darkness. It is with good reason that Binswanger and Schwartz do not want their faxes circulated: although ostensibly an indictment of us, they are in fact a searing indictment of them. We want people to know what those faxes have to say, so that they can judge their authors.
It is saddening, indeed, to realize that those who today claim the right to lead Objectivism comport themselves in the manner of Spanish Inquisitors, claiming the right to level charges and conduct proceedings in secret, whose nature their victims are not allowed to reveal. As Objectivists-as ordinary Americans-we reject any such claim with the profoundest contempt.
George Reisman