Conservatives have a 'cancel culture' of their own

[Zorro]

For as long as I can remember, conservatives have been denouncing the intolerance of the left. I was decrying “political correctness” as a student columnist at the University of California at Berkeley 30 years ago. Now the catchphrase is “cancel culture.” In his Mount Rushmore speech last week, President Trump decried a “new far-left fascism” that is “driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees.”

It’s true that some leftists try to repress viewpoints they find offensive. A group of intellectual luminaries has even faced a backlash for releasing an open letter decrying this trend. But here’s the thing. The right has little standing to complain about the left’s cancel culture, because it has its own cancel culture that is just as pervasive and might be even more powerful.

Trump’s hypocrisy is glaring. As my fellow Post columnist Catherine Rampell pointed out, he is trying to intimidate critical media organizations, stop the publication of books that he doesn’t like, and purge the executive branch of anyone who disagrees with him. To cite but one egregious example: Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was fired from the National Security Council and now has been forced into early retirement, without a peep of protest from Republicans, because he testified truthfully about Trump’s impeachable conduct.

The rest of the conservative movement can be just as intolerant of dissent. I learned this the hard way when I was the op-ed editor of the Wall Street Journal from 1997 to 2002. As I recount in my book “The Corrosion of Conservatism: Why I Left the Right,” I was nearly fired for trying to run an op-ed critical of supply-side economics by Paul Krugman, a future Nobel laureate in economics. The editorial-page philosophy was that it would run one liberal column a week; if readers wanted more, they could turn to the New York Times.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/10/conservatives-have-cancel-culture-their-own/

[Dustlawyer]

1. The media propaganda that manipulates public opinion is one of two root causes of most

of our problems. The other is campaign finance which is legalized bribery of our politicians.

The Trumpsters are a direct result of decades of RW propaganda, blaming immigrants and minorities for our problems instead of corporate welfare and tax policies which favor the wealthy and corporations.

We cannot fix anything until we address these two root causes!

[Grins]

2. One column a week?

“The editorial-page philosophy (at the Wall St. Journal) was that it would run one liberal column a week; if readers wanted more, they could turn to the New York Times.“

And how many Reich-wing, shit writing propagandists did I have to stomach who were given twice-weekly columns in The NY Times and Washington Post, plus all the various “guest columnists” on the Reich?

And - THAT’S STILL TRUE TODAY! (How many years has Geo. Will been at the WaPo? FORTY-SIX!!!!!)

“Liberal media” my ass.

[underpants]

3. Democrats fall in love with their candidate, Republicans fall in line

It’s an axiom that I wasn’t aware until a few years ago.

[J_William_Ryan]

4. Wrong.

“It’s true that some leftists try to repress viewpoints they find offensive.”

No, it is not ‘true.’

Denouncing the racism, bigotry, and hate of conservatives is not to seek to ‘repress’ viewpoints.

Conservatives are at complete liberty to express their racism, bigotry, and hate.

If conservatives believe their viewpoints are being ‘repressed’ it’s because private citizens in the context of private society reject the right’s racism, bigotry, and hate – which in no manner is to ‘repress.’