American left bows out of free speech

[eagle7-31]

The Political Insider

Breaking political news, congressional updates, and policy analysis.

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of course those of us with an IQ above sea level have know this for sometime,

 

[eagle7-31]

The Political Insider

Breaking political news, congressional updates, and policy analysis.

thepoliticalinsider.com

of course those of us with an IQ above sea level have know this for sometime,

By Patrick Maines for RealClearPolitics

Of the several unwelcome revelations in the past six years, the most politically significant is that liberalism as a political philosophy is dead.

Oh, there may still be some individuals who identify with it, but for the most part they are old, retired, or cowed into silence by the howling mobs of progressives, the “woke,” and the identitarian left.

And how do we know this? We know it by the collapse of colleges and universities as places of open debate and inquiry. And we know it by the abandonment of any kind of honest and principled journalism by the vast majority of the legacy and social media. For decades these two institutions, the press and the academy, have been the white hot center of American liberalism, and their metamorphosis into woke and progressive fortresses signals the end of it.

RELATED: Stanford University Declares Calling Yourself ‘American’ is Offensive

How else to explain the spectacle of acceptance, if not the promotion, of censoring, shadow banning, and cancelling? Or the spread of CRT concepts in education from elementary school to college? Or the hostility shown toward Elon Musk’s stated goal of reinstating free speech on Twitter? Or the thuggish and uniform media lies regarding stories like the origin of COVID-19 and authenticity of Hunter Biden’s laptop?

You don’t have to admire or share the philosophy to know that liberalism is, or was, popularly likened to virtues like tolerance and broad-mindedness. But none of the examples above reflect any of those qualities. Just the opposite.

In the summer of 2020, Harper’s magazine published an open letter signed by 150 or so people, most of whom would then have been regarded as liberals. In it, the signers made clear their dismay over the attacks on freedom of speech:

The free exchange of information and ideas, the lifeblood of a liberal society, is daily becoming more constricted. While we have come to expect this on the radical right, censoriousness is also spreading more widely in our culture; an intolerance of opposing views, a vogue for public shaming and ostracism, and the tendency to dissolve complex policy issues in a blinding moral certainty.
More troubling still, institutional leaders, in a spirit of panicked damage control, are delivering hasty and disproportionate punishments instead of considered reforms. Editors are fired for running controversial pieces; books are withdrawn for alleged inauthenticity; journalists are barred from writing on certain topics; professors are investigated for quoting works of literature in class; and the heads of organizations are ousted for what are sometimes just clumsy mistakes.

 

[Moonglow]

You don’t have to admire or share the philosophy to know that liberalism is, or was, popularly likened to virtues like tolerance and broad-mindedness. But none of the examples above reflect any of those qualities. Just the opposite.

When in Hell has the US ever had tolerance or broad-minded ideal in society? I can tell you never..

 

[Frankeneinstein]

When in Hell has the US ever had tolerance or broad-minded ideal in society? I can tell you never..

Once again the left gets caught with its hand in the cookie jar and it is all Americas fault

 

[Moonglow]

Once again the left gets caught with its hand in the cookie jar and it is all Americas fault

I see you like collectives.

 

[Frankeneinstein]

I see you like collectives.

I like banter

 

[themirrorthief]

When in Hell has the US ever had tolerance or broad-minded ideal in society? I can tell you never..

now we know why millions are swimming across the border...the are coming her to suffer obviously

 

[lennypartiv]

When in Hell has the US ever had tolerance or broad-minded ideal in society? I can tell you never..

Crazy liberal views shouldn't be tolerated. That's why DeSantis is justified in the actions he taken against gays and liberal university professors in Florida.

 

[Moonglow]

now we know why millions are swimming across the border...the are coming her to suffer obviously

They are running away from suffering.

 

[Moonglow]

Crazy liberal views shouldn't be tolerated. That's why DeSantis is justified in the actions he taken against gays and liberal university professors in Florida.

You evidently have no idea what liberalism is.

1. 
   willingness to respect or accept behaviour or opinions different from one's own; openness to new ideas.
   
   
   
2. 
   a political and social philosophy that promotes individual rights, civil liberties, democracy, and free enterprise.