It is hard to believe that the president of the United States is often accused of being a fascist by the same people who advocate harassing, assaulting, and censoring his supporters. But, that is exactly what is going on now. The political left is labeling anything conservative as hateful, bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic, etc., to justify un-American suppression of non-left-wing views.
Freedom of speech is an essential American value, and restrictions on free speech aren’t likely to sit well with a majority of the American people. But, Democrats have a found a loophole: let privately owned companies do the censoring. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have long been accused of anti-conservative bias. Earlier this year, Facebook temporarily prevented my ability to promote my new book. A couple of months ago, they demanded personal information from me in order for me to have the “privilege” of paying to promote my books. I have chosen not to give them any information that could potentially be misused.
I’ve had better luck on Twitter, but Hispanic science fiction author Jon Del Arroz has experienced repeated censorship there.
“Leftists have been successful in targeting me on Twitter every time I’ve reached new heights in my writing career,” he told PJ Media. “When I hit #1 Amazon Bestseller, Twitter gave me a notice within 30 minutes as if I was permanently banned, giving me no reason, but the account became unlocked a few minutes later.”
Del Arroz recently launched a comic book crowd-funding project on Indiegogo called Flying Sparks and found that his self-promotion on Twitter was met with a coordinated attack by left-wing authors who reported his tweets en masse. “I didn’t violate Twitter’s Terms of Service, but now I’m suspended for a week and can’t promote my project to my nearly 5,000 followers just as it’s gaining momentum,” he said.
Google is no exception either. Last year, PJ Media contributor Megan Fox found her YouTube channel demonetized after Rush Limbaugh read one of her columns on his radio show. This was by no means an isolated incident, as YouTube had been targeting conservative content creators long before that.
But throttling conservatives on social media isn’t enough for the radical left. The vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), recently wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, accusing him of profiting off the sales of materials he considers “racist” or linked to “hate groups.” What exactly does Ellison mean by “hate groups”? For Ellison, he trusts the wisdom of the embattled Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Despite its history, in recent years the SPLC has become a tool of leftists to brand conservative groups “hate groups.”
Tucker Carlson recently and accurately described it as “a left-wing political group that uses ‘hate crime’ designations to target its ideological enemies and to crush people.” Several years ago they targeted the Value Voters Summit and its primary sponsor, Family Research Council, for being “bigots” and “haters.” Why? Because they believe in traditional marriage and that homosexuality is a sin. The SPLC haphazardly tossing around the “hate group” label has gotten them into some serious trouble. The SPLC recently agreed to a $3 million court settlement after falsely listing Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz in its 2016 “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.” Nawaz is a practicing Muslim. Following the settlement, at least 60 organizations branded as “hate groups” by the SPLC are considering legal action against the left-wing organization.
Just as liberals throw the terms “racist” and “bigot” around to silence anyone who disagrees with them, the SPLC uses its esteemed status in liberal circles to legitimize its salacious labeling of individuals and groups as “hate groups.”
While I have not personally been smeared by SPLC, my books are constantly accused of being racist simply for being critical of Barack Obama. So, when the vice-chair of a major political party is advocating that Amazon censor voices based on the recommendations of an extreme left-wing organization masquerading as a “nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation,” I can’t help being concerned. Keith Ellison would no doubt want Amazon to censor books by conservatives authors (particularly mine for being critical of the first black president) and would want Amazon to stop selling them. That would be a major attack on my livelihood, and no doubt many others who don’t conform to left-wing groupthink would be targeted as well.
Ellison may have realized that he went too far, because the letter that he wrote to Bezos has since been pulled. But, make no mistake about it, liberals don’t believe conservatives have the right to free speech or to make a living. While they’re busy screaming about Trump and branding him a fascist, they seem completely unaware that they are the ones advocating fascism. Merriam-Webster defines “fascism” as “a political philosophy, movement, or regime […] that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Is Ellison not advocating for the suppression of opposition and the control of the market under the guise of being anti-hate?
If liberals ran the government, they would certainly be doing everything they could to regulate free speech so that conservative views are suppressed to the point where they are no longer allowed to be broadcast by the media, or published on social media, or sold in the free market. If they don’t succeed in suppressing conservative views via the private sector, they will try to succeed via government regulation and law as soon as they regain power. That is fascism, and they are trying to normalize it now.
Matt Margolis is the author of the book, The Scandalous Presidency of Barack Obama and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
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