Verbal Fascism

I remember vividly the cultural turmoil of the 1960’s highlighting the importance of free speech at the U.C.-Berkeley and other campuses. Though I strongly rejected the youth rebellion and its focus on drugs, free sex, and hatred of the police, I agreed with one tenet.

Free speech.

It stood enshrined in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and seemed as American as apple pie. I thought the radicals simply wanted equal time. That’s fair in a free society.

I was wrong.

Those same radicals now control many of the leadership positions in government, the media and higher education in the United States. We now know what they wanted all along.

Control. And how do you gain it?

Verbal Fascism.

Verbal Fascism

I’m taking a two-week break between college semesters and will let David Harsanyi share most of the commentary in this article. He’s eloquently written what I’ve been pondering for months.

We are aggressively losing the privilege of liberty of conversation in our nation. Sixty years later we are painfully learning that the free speech mantra of the past was actually just a means to mainstreaming Marxist/fascist/tyrannical ideas to be imposed on the public later. 

That moment in American history has arrived.

Bill O’Reilly revealed last night what most of us already suspected.  The three founders of the Black Lives Matter organization–all women in their thirties–are avowed Marxists. That’s what we’re facing in the streets regardless of the compassionate costumes being worn.

Rush Limbaugh agreed on June 23, 2020 that Marxism has become the single largest threat to America. That’s the identical conclusion that I came to in 1989 in my book Leadership for the 21st Century: Changing Nations through the Power of Serving.

More on that “prophecy” (prediction)” in a future article.

One of my favorite writers, David Harsanyi of National Review, has written the clearest perspective on the growing verbal fascism now dizzily multiplying around us.

In his recent piece “Welcome to America’s Cultural Revolution” he discusses why our freedom of speech is being taken away. 

Harsanyi states:

“We’re in the dawn of a high-tech, bloodless cultural revolution, one that relies on intimidation, public shaming, and economic ruin to dictate what words and ideas are permissible in the public square.”

“’Words are violence’ has always been an illiberal notion meant to stifle speech and open discourse. Popularized by a generation of coddled and brittle college students, it now guides policy on editorial pages at newspapers such as The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, and most major news outlets.”

“The Times can claim that a harsh tone and a small factual error in Senator Tom Cotton’s recent op-ed was the reason the entire paper had a meltdown, but the staffers who revolted initially claimed that Cotton’s argument for bringing the National Guard into cities put black lives in ‘danger.’”

“None of the Times’ editors, all of whom are apparently comfortable with running [fake] histories or odes to communist tyrannies, pushed back against the caustic notion that engaging in debate was an act of violence. They bowed to the internal mob and pleaded for forgiveness.”

“What editor at a major newspaper is going to stand up for ideals of open and free debate if doing so means putting ‘black lives in danger’ and ends his career? Few, if any.”

“The Times has been cleansed of reactionary elements. The paper is in the hands of The People. Others will follow.”

“You may also have noticed another progressive slogan gaining popularity these days: ‘Silence is violence.’ It’s no longer enough not to peddle wrong-think in the op-ed pages of the local paper, but now you must also actively champion woke progressive positions or you, too, are tacitly engaged in violence and racism.”

“This is a neat trick: To speak out in the wrong way is violence. Not to speak out is violence. Not to speak out in the way progressives dictate is violence. Thus, your apolitical local lawn care company is sending out emails promising to dedicate themselves to Black Lives Matter. No one wants to be accused of harboring counterrevolutionary sympathies.”

“That doesn’t leave much room for dissent, does it? Anyone in the public square who doesn’t conform (save those who work for conservative political journals, perhaps) risks being humiliated and ruined.”

“Social media have finally given our illiberal activists tools to ferret out suspicious characters and drag them in front of the digital tribunal. By my count, there have been around a dozen struggle sessions for crimes against Black Lives Matter or related issues since last week.”

“Dee Nguyen has been fired from MTV sports reality show, ‘The Challenge,’ after making insensitive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement, reads one story.”

“Sacramento Kings play-by-play announcer Grant Napear, who’s been calling games since 1988, was forced to resign after saying the words ‘all lives matter.’”

“Refinery29 editor Christene Barberich was pushed out for alleged ‘racist aggressions’ ‘(even the wording of the accusations has a mildly communist flavor). Bon Appetit editor Adam Rapoport was booted for the same, but only after ‘insensitive’ photos of him wearing a costume emerged.”

“In not one of these cases, as far as I can tell, did friends and co-workers rise to defend those whose careers may have been ruined over a bad joke, errant comment, or stupid costume. No, they participate in the ritual shaming along with everyone else.”

“And while these struggle sessions are primarily about public humiliation and intimidation, they are also ostensibly about self-criticism. Hoping to salvage his future, for example, Rapoport has confessed that he had ‘not championed an inclusive vision’—and who can blame him?”

“By the time you read this, Saints quarterback Drew Brees will probably be on his 10th round of ritual public self-flagellation—his wife having already apologized as well—for saying the words: ‘I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country.’”

“Without an apology, we’re told, Brees would have been unable to work with teammates who are offended because there is no room for dissent on this issue. Brees promises to ‘listen.’ Brees implores all of America to ‘listen.’ ‘Listen’ is a euphemism for group-think.”

“Of course, everyone should genuinely listen. They should hear out Tom Cotton as well. Black Lives Matter is a group that is not only home to an inspirational sentiment and good people but also various hard left-wing groups and sentiments that some of us reject. It should not get a dispensation from the rules every other movement lives by. In a free and healthy nation, no issue should be above criticism or debate.”

“We once called that liberalism.”

Exactly right.

With Aunt Jemima and Eskimo Pies out, Google and Facebook pulling down “hate speech” on social media (many conservative and faith-based voices) and nobody being allowed in the woke press to say anything against Black Lives Matter while hundreds of millions of dollars pour into their coffers, it appears that the Marxists are winning the battle to topple free speech.

Unless we do something about it.

I like to remind myself and my readers that the devil and his angels are behind all the evil lies and forms of tyranny that exist in our world. Let’s not just wring our hands, become fearful, and forget to do spiritual warfare over the powers coming against us.

It’s time to stand up for freedom against demonic forces and deceived human beings. Let’s bind the powers of darkness, remind ourselves that all lives matter to God and resist tyranny in our generation.

Starting with freedom of speech.