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Why the Left Has to Suppress Free Speech

Discussion in 'News & Current Events' started by Aaron, Jan 21, 2021.

  1. Aaron

    Aaron Member
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    Opinion: Why the Left Has to Suppress Free Speech

    Let us begin with this fact: The left always suppresses speech. Since Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, there has been no example of the left in control and not crushing dissent.

    That is one of the important differences between liberal and left: Liberalism and liberals believe in free speech. (The present leftist threat to freedom in America, the greatest threat to freedom in American history, is made possible because liberals think they have more to fear from conservatives than from the left. Liberals don’t understand that the left regards liberals as their useful idiots.)

    The left controls universities. There is little or no dissent allowed at universities.

    The left controls nearly every “news” medium. There is little or no dissent in the mainstream media—not in the “news” sections and not in the opinion sections.

    The left controls Hollywood. No dissent is allowed in Hollywood.

    That is why we have “cancel culture”—the silencing and firing of anyone who publicly dissents from the left, and even “publicly” is no longer necessary. The National Association of Realtors has just announced that if you express dissenting views (on race, especially) in private, you may be fined and lose your membership in the organization—which effectively ends your career as a realtor.

    So, we return to the opening question: Why does the left need to crush all dissent? This is a question made all the more stark because there is no parallel on the right: Conservatives don’t shut down dissent or debate.

    The answer, though the left will not acknowledge it, is the left fears dissent. And they do so for good reason. Leftism is essentially a giant balloon filled with nothing but hot air. Therefore, no matter how big the balloon—the Democratic Party, The New York Times, Yale University—all it takes is a mere pin to burst it.

    Leftism is venerated by intellectuals. But there is little intellectual substance to leftism. It is a combination of doctrine and emotion. The proof? Those with intellectual depth don’t stifle dissent; they welcome it.

    That is why universities are so opposed to conservatives coming to speak on campus. One articulate conservative can undo years of left-wing indoctrination in a one-hour talk or Q and A. I know this from personal experience on campuses. You can, too. Watch the speeches given by any conservatives allowed to speak on a campus—many of these talks are still on YouTube—and you will see large halls filled with students yearning to hear something other than left-wing pablum. Look at their faces, filled with rapt attention to ideas they never heard that are clearly having an impact. Universities are entirely right to fear our coming to speak. We come with the pin that bursts their $50,000-a-year balloon.

    That is also why it is so hard to get any of them to debate any of us. In 35 years of radio, I have never mistreated or bullied a guest. I was unfailingly polite to an icon of the left, Howard Zinn, the America-hating author of the America-hating “A People’s History of the United States.” I even invited a UCLA political science professor and violinist, one of seven members of the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra who refused to play when I conducted the orchestra in a Joseph Haydn symphony in the Disney Concert Hall—solely because I’m a conservative. Despite his public letter, in which he accused me of holding “horribly bigoted positions” and wrote, “Please urge your friends to not attend this concert, which helps normalize bigotry in our community,” I nevertheless invited him on my national radio show. He agreed. I had him in studio for an entire hour and treated him and his wife (who accompanied him) with great respect, despite my contempt for his false accusations and his advocacy of the cancel culture. Every American should hear that hour.

    Unfortunately for the emotional and intellectual health of our society, he, Zinn, and a few others were anomalies. Of the 100 or so left-wing authors, professors, and columnists invited to appear on my show, almost none has responded in the affirmative. They prefer NPR, where they are never challenged.

    The opposite, however, isn’t true: Every conservative intellectual I know says yes to every one of the (very few) left-wing invitations we receive. Of course, we are almost never invited. We regularly invite leftists. Leftists almost never invite us. They claim it’s because we are not up to their intellectual level and they have no desire to waste their time. One would think that the opportunity to publicly show how vapid we conservatives really are would be too good to pass up.

    Leftists don’t debate us or appear as guests on our shows and prevent us from speaking whenever possible, because they (correctly) fear conservatives. Race-baiters such as Ibram X. Kendi or Ta-Nehisi Coates or “White Fragility” author Robin DiAngelo would never debate Larry Elder, for example. Why won’t they? Because they would be shown to be the intellectually shallow purveyors of hate they are. Deep down, they know it. Larry Elder is one of many conservative black intellectuals who left-wing blacks (and whites) refuse to debate.

    Now you know why the left suppresses free speech: because they have to. If there is free speech, there is dissent. And if there is dissent, there is no more left.

    Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist.

    Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
     
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  2. SavedByGrace

    SavedByGrace Well-Known Member

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    if there was a Republican president, does this mean there is really "free speech" in the country? Would people be allowed to speak out against homosexuals and transgenders, and call them sinners, etc, without being arrested?
     
  3. Aaron

    Aaron Member
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    Growing up I remember the Leftist 'demonstrations' for free speech on campuses, so they could be free to organize. One of my anti-Reagan HS teachers wanted us to think that was beautiful, saying, "I may not agree with what you say, but I'll fight to the death for your right to say it," as if the right to be profane and despotic in one's speech was something we should admire. Something didn't feel right about that, but I couldn't argue with it till years later.

    Americans didn't die for the right for free speech so that communists could spew their vomitus. We fought for free speech so that good men could freely dissent from a government going astray. They died so that preachers could proclaim Christ. They died for the rights of good men to live peaceably according to their consciences. They didn't die for the tares. They died for the wheat. Letting the tares grow with the wheat is a necessary evil, lest while pulling them we also root out some of the wheat. They didn't die for goats, they died for the sheep, but the goats graze also among the sheep under the watchful care of the shepherd.

    As long as Westboro was free to say God hates fags, I was free to preach obedience to Christ.
     
  4. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    and just universities - I attended a 12 week Racial seminar several years ago. ( 1 night /wk) On the first night - everyone introduced themseves - it was the typical - I'm afro-americaian, I'm Italian-American, I'm (fill in the blank) Well, I was the last one - so I answered - I am a Mutt-American. Some in the class said that was offensive. Wait - a minute - they could say what kind of "American" they were - But I wasn't allowed to say? I was the only conservative in that group.
    There was another Baptist in the group - and his church tended to be more conservative. - (&he was black) but he said that blacks cannot be racists - because they are a minority.

    At some point, I mentioned to the group - that I actually a minority - I told them that I was the only white male in that group! They did not appreciate that statement.

    Well, come the year 2050 - it is estimated that whites will no longer be a majority.
    So in 2050 - will whites get special treatment?
    Whites will no longer be the majority in the US by 2043
     
  5. Quantrill

    Quantrill Active Member

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    I have said before, once the war starts it will be based upon liberal democrat atheist, vs conservative republican christian. But it will quickly turn into a race war.

    2050? By then the question will be settled.

    Quantrill
     
  6. Scott Downey

    Scott Downey Well-Known Member

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    The LEFT does continue to beat on the right, shows no signs of letting up now for years. Just getting more intense. They are aggressors here, the right when they respond back get hit even harder by them. Even the capital riot was nothing like what the LEFT has done all year long in the cities, it just came home to roost for the governing elite. And when they get to experience stuff like this see how much they like it...but lots of Americans have been experiencing similar all year long, and they did nothing to stop it.
    In fact the words they said and did not say encouraged the rioters and looters.
     
    #6 Scott Downey, Jan 21, 2021
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2021
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  7. RighteousnessTemperance&

    RighteousnessTemperance& Well-Known Member

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    As usual, Prager is spot on. The left cannot afford to allow dissenting views, except in caricature, because they will lose, as their ideas have no merit.
     
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  8. Alcott

    Alcott Well-Known Member
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    Did you ask him, then, if during the era of apartheid in South Africa, whites could not be racists, since they were the minority?
     
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  9. Wingman68

    Wingman68 Well-Known Member
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    I’ve subscribed to the Epoch Times for awhile. It comes once a week, & it is enjoyable to read a newspaper once again. Recommended. You get the dailies online.
     
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  10. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
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    Excellent question -
    This group I attended was well over ten years ago - so I dont remember everything I said.
     
  11. Scripture More Accurately

    Scripture More Accurately Well-Known Member

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    Although what Prager says is true as far as it goes, his explanation is far from a full explanation for why the left does what it does.

    John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
     
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