Cancel Culture is Coming for You
The recent firing of Tucker Carlson from Fox News is just another nail in the coffin for free speech. The government doesn’t have to squelch free speech. Corporate media is doing it for them. Corporate media, as in newspapers, TV and cable news, controls what the public hears. Thankfully, the Internet is still free unless you post on YouTube, Facebook, and other corporate owned platforms. These sites also censure what they decide is “fake or disinformation.” Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels would give a hearty well-done to these drudges.
Some self-disclosure is warranted. I have never watched Tucker Carlson. I do not watch any TV or cable news programs or talk shows. I get my news from other sources. The Internet puts the world in your browser window. You can stay better informed reading news and information that is not filtered from talking heads, newsreaders, corporate owned media, or government fed journalists.
The founding fathers knew freedom of speech is necessary for free and well-informed people. Amendment One of the US Constitution reads.” Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
One progressive member of congress appeared on a talk-show demanding the Government ban Tucker Carlson from being allowed on TV. Other progressive members want laws enacted to censure what they call “disinformation.” These members of Congress took an oath to support the Constitution. Yet they advocate squelching any public discussion of the issues if someone doesn’t agree with their agenda and talking points.
Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of a free society. The free and unhindered dissemination of information and ideas is a sign of a healthy society. People should be allowed to believe what they want. If someone wants to believe the earth is flat, men didn’t walk on the moon, Joe Biden is the best president the USA ever had, the news media is fair and balanced, governmental agencies are not spying on its citizens, and Santa Claus is real, you have a right to your opinion. If you can get an audience to listen, then go ahead.
Universities used to be the Bastogne of free speech. Not anymore. Progressive students on college campuses are shouting down and occasionally accosting speakers who do not share their viewpoints. University officials and security stand silent on the sidelines as radical progressive activists accost conservative speakers. How much longer before a speaker gets seriously injured or killed?
The question to ask is who decides what is fake or misinformation? The government? God help us. After signing the Declaration of Independence, the drafters went to work on designing the “great seal.” Benjamin Franklin proposed the phrase “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.” Thomas Jefferson liked the phrase and appropriated it for his personal seal. The founding fathers knew tyranny lurks behind every government. Therefore, the bill of rights is a check against governmental overreach and tyranny. Thomas Jefferson also said the second amendment is there as a bulwark against governmental tyranny.
If you’re waiting on the government to intervene for a citizen’s right to free speech, think again. It wants to squash your first and second amendment rights. President Ronald Reagan said, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we’ve been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?” He said this in 1981.
Government talking heads want to protect the “deplorables” from misinformation and conspiracy theories. The progressive intelligentsia asserts they have the answer to society’s ills. Again, the Hoi polloi aren’t smart enough to know what’s good for us. It’s for our own good. We can thank them for it later. The words of Jesus are appropriate. If the blind lead the blind, they will both fall into the ditch.
These are dark times for Christians and freedom. We are in a spiritual war. The forces of darkness are no longer operating in the shadows. They are openly attacking everything that is good and godly. Satan inverts everything that is of God. The transgender movement is a prime example. Little boys and girls are told at school you can be any sex you want. Do you realize it is corporate America that celebrates men pretending to be women?
Carlson says to pray. The apostle Paul says to pray without ceasing. We need more people praying.