Okay, for all of you lefty-types buying Je Suis Charlie t-shirts, and waxing indignant about free speech ... let me offer a reality check. It is the LEFT that has represented the greatest threat to free speech right here in America. I have been unfriended and socially scorned by literally hundreds of left-wing folk-singers and other enlightened souls, for the crime of disagreeing with their standardized beliefs. And this began when I was still a voting Democrat. Its a large part of what drove me out of the liberal tent. Just a bit of skepticism, or willingness to concede the moral logic of one or another conservative position has gotten me barred from innumerable friendships ... and probably cost me gigs as well. As recently as last Friday, I sat in an audience while a well-known musical artist mocked conservatives to the smarmy echo-chamber approval of his audience. That is so common a scene as to be utterly unremarkable. Try mocking liberals from a Los Angeles stage. An actor friend of mine belongs to a group of conservatives in the TV and film industry. They meet in secret, fearing black-listing. Have you ever locked another person out of the dialogue because he or she held a view at variance to your own? Have you tarred whole groups with charges of racism, misogyny or homophobia in an attempt to silence opposition to the progressive agenda? Have you cheered when somebody lost his or her career because he or she used a racial slur a decade ago in a private conversation? If so, Vous nêtes pas Charlie. You are NOT Charlie. And to all of you left or right, who keep the channels open; who wrangle and debate and get mad and forgive, and who ultimately allow others their beliefs and the right to publicly express those beliefs, I say this: VOUS êtes Charlie.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:22:14 +0000
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