Another front in the culture war is censorship of speech, usually justified on grounds that such speech would inflict psychological harm on minorities and that power should be redistributed to “marginalized groups.” Activists pushing for such censorship organize online flash mobs and pressure campaigns, wielding accusations of racism, homophobia, or transphobia to ruin a person’s reputation and have them fired from their position. The problem is especially acute in higher education: the number of academics targeted for cancellation has exploded in recent years.
Would it that support for censorship of speech now was limited to the left. President Biden is filmed and recorded as referring to a Trump TV reporter as "a dumb son of a bitch," and the right is throwing a bit of a tantrum.
This is embarrassing for The View & exposes its absurdly partisan liberal bias. Good for @lisaling in refusing to bow to the whataboutery pile-on. 👇👇 https://t.co/oBSo8rn9ye
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) January 25, 2022
Goldberg et al. are right about this, but no matter. The
View is not The New York Times, and requiring- or expecting- it to adhere to a
strict code of political neutrality is absurd.
We learned last week from CNN that
A bill backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that would prohibit Florida's public schools and private businesses from making people feel "discomfort" or "guilt" based on their race, sex or national origin received first approval Tuesday by the state's Senate Education Committee.
The Republican-controlled committee approved the bill with six Republican senators in favor of the bill and three Democratic senators opposed to it.
Although the bill, named "Individual Freedom,"
does not mention Critical Race Theory, the term is used in the attached bill
analysis that was given to senators.
DeSantis also referred to CRT when he announced the proposed
legislation at a media event in December, saying the proposed law would help
keep CRT out of the schools and out of the workplace, calling it
"state-sanctioned racism" that creates a "hostile work environment."
Even for one opposes the teaching of Critical Race Theory in primary and secondary schools, the bill is seemingly unnecessary
because "under Florida Department of Education rules that took effect last
June, CRT cannot be taught in schools."
The bill goes way beyond teaching race-centric history in public schools. CNN continues
The legislation would prohibit individuals from making
people "feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of
psychological distress on account of his or her race, color, sex, or national
origin."
Though distorting the topic, DeSantis recognizes that one
objective of Critical Race Theory- or CRT-adjacent instruction- is to foist guilt upon the sons (and
daughters) for sins of the fathers. However, he does not wish that history be
taught objectively, but instead in a manner not to make students feel bad,
"discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological
distress." (He, like many of his critics, believe American history should
be taught from the perspective they favor.)
Schools should not be used to implant what educators believe
to be a proper sense of social justice, nor to shield them from developing the
"anguish" they might develop were they to be exposed to any hard truth. A black state legislator in Florida
understands "This isn't even a ban on Critical Race Theory, this is a ban
on Black history. They are talking about not wanting White people to feel
uncomfortable? Let's talk about being uncomfortable. My ancestors were
uncomfortable when they were stripped away from their children."
Once upon a time- maybe four, five years ago- liberals
understandably were slammed by conservatives as being "snowflakes," unable or
unwilling to face harsh realities and melting in the face of criticism. This
tendency now has spread to the right. DeSantis and his allies don't want to
hurt people's feelings. Lisa Ling is
upset that a conservative reporter has had his feelings hurt by the President
of the USA.
Oh, boo hoo. Conservatives, as with many hyper-sensitive
liberals, need to grow up.
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