I disagree. It just says that the essay author thinks there was an opportunity for the book author to do a real act of activism. Yet, they still chose emptiness

I disagree. It just says that the essay author thinks there was an opportunity for the book author to do a real act of activism. Yet, they still chose emptiness. It is just there, in my view, to strengthen the argument that it was not the context that made it empty, it was a choice. It doesn’t frame the controversy as about free speech at all, in my opinion.