America’s silent majority must fight liberals killing freedom of speech
By: Ben Shapiro
The hatred that the woke bi coastal secular progressive elites hold toward traditional American values, toward freedom of speech, individual rights, religious liberty, economic choices knows no bounds. CRT, 1619, PC, cancel culture, and Wokeism is an anti American toxic brew of hate and intolerance.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
America’s silent majority must fight liberals killing freedom of speech
By Ben Shapiro
More than six in ten Americans say they fear saying what they think, including a majority of liberals, 64 percent of moderates, and fully 77 percent of conservatives. Only self-described “strong liberals” feel confident in saying what they believe these days. To be a left-wing authoritarian is to feel the certainty of anti-conventionalism, the passion for top-down censorship, the thrill of revolutionary aggression.
Tomorrow belongs to them.
For the rest of us, a society run by left-wing authoritarians is extraordinarily burdensome. It is to be surrounded by institutional hatred. If you are conservative — or merely non-leftist — in America, the hatred is palpable.
They hate you in academia. They hate you in the media. They hate you on the sports field, in the movies, on Facebook and Twitter. Your boss hates you. Your colleagues hate you — or at least have been told they should.
They hate you because you think the wrong way.
Stating publicly that you love your country could get you in hot water in today’s political climate.Getty Images
Perhaps the problem is that you attend church regularly. Perhaps it’s that you want to run your business and be left alone. Perhaps it’s that you want to raise your children with traditional social values. It could be that you believe that men and women exist, or that the police are generally not racist, or that children deserve a mother and a father, or that hard work pays off, or that the American flag stands for freedom rather than oppression, or that people should be judged based on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.
Maybe it’s that you haven’t put your preferred pronouns in your Twitter profile, or hashtagged with the latest pride symbol for the latest cause, or used the proper emoji in your text messages. Or maybe it’s just that you have friends, or family members, or even acquaintances who have violated any of the thicket of cultural regulations placed upon us by our supposed moral betters. Guilt by association is just as damning as guilt through action or inaction.
The reasons they hate you are legion. They change day to day. One day, you might be a ballyhooed champion of justice for standing up for gay rights or feminist ideals; the next day, you might be told that you have been banished for your refusal to acknowledge that a man calling himself a woman is not in fact a woman (Martina Navratilova or J. K. Rowling). One day, you might find yourself a hero of the intelligentsia for your cynicism about religion; the next, you might find yourself a villain for the great sin of suggesting that cancel culture breeds radicalization (podcaster Sam Harris or professor Steven Pinker).
This is not a question of Democrat or Republican. Not one figure named above would identify as a Republican, let alone a conservative. There is only one thing in the end that unites the disparate figures deemed worthy of the gulag in our ongoing culture war: refusal. The standards matter less than the simple message: You will comply, and you will like it.
Liberal Hollywood actor and producer Mark Duplass tweeted his support of conservative Ben Shapiro and then quickly regretted it.Patrick McMullan via Getty Image
As a prominent conservative, I always warn those who aren’t prepared for blowback not to associate with me publicly.
In June 2018, prominent Hollywood actor and producer Mark Duplass approached me about getting together — he was producing a film dealing with gun rights and wanted to speak with someone on the right to get a more accurate point of view. I thought that was shockingly decent of him, given Hollywood’s permanent and thoroughgoing determination to caricature conservative positions; I told him so, and suggested he come by the office for a discussion. We ended up spending about an hour and a half together. As he left, I gave him the usual warning: Don’t mention that we’ve met publicly, unless you’re prepared for the fallout.
‘I’m really sorry. I now understand that I need to be more diligent and careful. I’m working on that.’ Mark Duplass, after he got slammed on Twitter for praising conservative Ben Shapiro
He didn’t listen. In July, a couple of weeks later, he tweeted this shocking message: “Fellow liberals: If you are interested at all in ‘crossing the aisle’ you should consider following @benshapiro. I don’t agree with him on much but he’s a genuine person who once helped me for no other reason than to be nice. He doesn’t bend the truth. His intentions are good.”
The world fell in on poor Mark. After trending on Twitter publicly, and surely receiving a boatload of nasty notes privately, Mark quickly deleted his tweet, and then replaced it with a Maoist struggle session of hot-button social justice warrior thought vomit:
So that tweet was a disaster on many levels. I want to be clear that I in no way endorse hatred, racism, homophobia, xenophobia or any such form of intolerance. My goal has always been to spread unity, understanding and kindness. But I am going to make mistakes along the way. Sometimes I move too quickly when I get excited, or fail to do enough research, or I don’t communicate myself clearly. I’m really sorry. I now understand that I need to be more diligent and careful. I’m working on that. But, I do believe deeply in bi-partisan understanding and I will continue to do my best to promote peace and decency in this world right now. That said, I hear you. And I want to say thank you to those who reached out with constructive criticism. I have genuinely learned so much and wish everyone all the best.
Honestly, I felt rather sorry for him. Duplass has to work in this town. And Hollywood is a one-party ideological dictatorship. That said, I did warn him.
Martina Navratilova (left) and J.K. Rowling have been canceled for saying that a man calling himself a woman is not in fact a woman.Getty Images; FilmMagic
This sort of stuff happens all the time. Just about a year after the Duplass incident, I attended a rather tony political summit — perhaps the only real ritzy cocktail party I’ve ever gone to. One of the other attendees happened to be one of the more prominent left-wing podcasters in the country. After a few pleasantries, I suggested that perhaps we ought to do an election-year crossover podcast. “The numbers,” I said, “would be extraordinary. And I know my audience would love it. We’re always having on guests who disagree.”
“I’m sure your audience would be cool with it,” the podcaster answered. “But mine would murder me.”
This is why when I meet prominent people, from conservative sports stars to libertarian tech magnates, I do so quietly. I’m not in the business of getting studio heads fired simply by confirming with whom I lunch.
Now, I’m lucky. I speak my views for a living. But tens and tens of millions of people aren’t so lucky. For them, the consequences of speaking non-leftist views publicly in our absolutist time are grave.
Every day, I receive dozens of letters and calls from people asking how to navigate the minefield of American life.
Sam Harris (left) and Steven Pinker are on the outs for saying that cancel culture is real — and dangerous.YouTube; Getty Images
“My boss is forcing me into diversity training, in which I’m told that all white Americans are inherently racist. Should I speak up about it? I’m afraid I’ll be fired.”
“My professor says that anyone who refuses to use preferred pronouns is a bigot. What should I write on my final? I’m afraid he’ll grade me down.”
“My sister knows I voted for Republicans. Now she says she doesn’t want to talk to me. What do I do?”
The consequences of woke cultural authoritarianism are real, and they are devastating. They range from job loss to social ostracism. Americans live in fear of the moment when a personal enemy dredges up a Bad Old TweetTM or members of the media “resurface” an impolitic comment in a text message. And the eyes and ears are everywhere. One simple tip from someone on Facebook to a pseudo-journalist activist can result in a worldwide scandal. Cross the social justice warriors, and you will be canceled.
Perhaps the most galling aspect of our culturally authoritarian moment is the blithe assurance whereby Americans are informed that they are exaggerating. There is no such thing as cancel culture, our woke rulers assure us, while busily hunting down our most embarrassing political faux pas. There’s nothing wrong, they say, with calling your boss to try to get you fired — after all, that’s the free market just working! Why are you whining about social media censorship, or about social ostracism? People have a right to tear you to shreds, to end your career, to malign your character! It’s all free speech!
More than six in ten Americans say they fear saying what they think, and many keep their faith in God to themselves.MediaNews Group via Getty Images
In a certain sense, they’re not wrong: Your boss does have a right to fire you; your friends and family do have a right to cut you off. None of that amounts to a violation of the First Amendment.
It simply amounts to the end of the republic.
Free speech and free exchange of ideas die when the attitude of philosophical tolerance withers. Writing in 1831, the greatest observer of America and democracy, Alexis de Tocqueville, summed up the threat of democratic despotism in terms that sound shockingly, eerily prescient:
If you crave the vote of your fellow citizens, they will not grant it to you, and if you demand only their esteem, they will still pretend to refuse it to you. You shall remain among men, but you shall lose your rights of humanity. When you approach those like you, they shall flee you as being impure; and those who believe in your innocence, even they shall abandon you, for one would flee them in their turn.
This is the America we currently occupy. As Axios reporter Jim VandeHei writes, “Blue America is ascendant in almost every area: It won control of all three branches of government; dominates traditional media; owns, controls and lives on the dominant social platforms; and has the employee-level power at big tech companies to force corporate decisions . . . Our nation is rethinking politics, free speech, the definition of truth and the price of lies. This moment — and our decisions — will be studied by our kid’s grandkids.”
And yet, buried in authoritarianism is always one deep flaw: its insecurity. If authoritarians had broad and deep support, they wouldn’t require compulsion. The dirty secret of our woke authoritarians is that they are the minority.
You are the majority.
It’s not that everybody hates you. It’s that millions of Americans are afraid to say that they agree with you.
We have been silenced.
And now is the time for the silence to be broken by one simple, powerful word, a word that has meant freedom since the beginning of time: No.
Excerpted from “The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America’s Institutions Against Dissent” by Ben Shapiro. Copyright © 2021 by Benjamin Shapiro
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yup. take the hint. get a clue. just gtfo of america asap.
The 'Silent Majority' ceased to exist when the Web went online giving everyone a soapbox.
As to Mark Duplass, never heard of him nor his 'films' ... however, his wife is kinda cute.
The silent majority exists and will be silenced no more.
There's always a "silent majority".
We know that by election days results.
The silent majority won by 8 million in the last cycle.
Ah, that's why you vote your comments up, so as to make you feel as if someone is listening to you.
No, it didn’t. That vote was manufactured, created out of thin air, by manipulation and fraud. The election was stolen.
I only vote my comments up when I am replying to a progressive members post. When I respond to another conservatives post I’m never the 1st to vote up my comment. The surest way to get me to vote up one of my comments is for one to complain about me doing it.
No one really gives a shit.
Sharing an untruth is wrong, and repeating untruths is ungodly evil. Show evidence of election theft! This country can not remain stable through another set of years of this barrage of untruths..
If that's what the Trumpist-Fascists think, then they should escape while they can to their true homeland, Russia, where all the elections are fair and free.
That's nice. Prove it!
Who cares?
Lol… there’s people in this thread who say the same thing about 2016..
send them back to Russia…
LOL
I'm not advocating sending anyone anywhere. They can go voluntarily.
Funny thing is, you are always talking about "We" and "Us" as if yours was a monolithic majority yet nobody but you voters you up!
Did anyone notice that for the past week or more that the participation of some people on conservatives seeds has been nothing but attack the seeder, attack the source, or attack the author of the seed or of any support material one of us brings to the discussion? The only exception seems to be to bring up Putin and Russian intelligence agencies while making a concerted effort to say absolutely nothing about the content of the seeded article or our comments related to that?
Too funny. Remember the rumors and questions about gay Martina being a guy?
In reality, it's the self-hatred and self-loathing of the so-called "conservatives", living in their bizarre, dysfunctional dystopia, that's palpable. Can you image having such paranoid delusions that you believe everyone hates you? "Academia" hates you. "The media" hates you. Your boss hates you. Your colleagues hate you. The butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker hate you. Even your dog hates you!
why do you think he's here? he's unwelcome elsewhere.
"We have been silenced."
Really Ben? Do tell, you certainly have not.
Not for a lack of effort on the lefts part. They are trying co silence and cancel us all the time.
That would be silly of them, they should let you scream your nonsense until it is in everyone's earshot. 'We' all deserve a good snicker, even the just say "no" muddle of mumbling morons.
There! Did it again...
That is the effort we are resisting.
Resisting? With pathetic, weak articles like this one? Good job. Anyhow, it's too late. You're cancelled.
What's the use in trying to communicate with noncommunicable some conservatives? Demonizing both sides or one side is evil.
I had noticed that Newsmax was pulled from the air by the FCC, and that Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity were fired personally by Kamala Harris. She did that right after passing a law (all by her lonesome) that ALL Cheerios commercials must now feature interracial couples and banning heterosexual marriage. The headlines were all over the place.
Oh, wait. No, they weren't. That never happened. That must mean that this is another steaming pile of bullshit paranoia.
Unlike your post, the seeded article is 100% factually correct.
Ben Shapiro has been silenced? How are you quoting him, then? If you're quoting him, your statement can't be factually correct.
Exactly right. /s
Empty claim is empty!
You are shilling for a book that is due to be released Tuesday 07/27/2021.
The "article" is a press release by the author to push book sales, period.
He has a platform. Tens of millions of ordinary citizens don’t have what he does. We are the ones at the mercy of the secular progressive deep state gulag and it’s cancel culture with the support of the lamestream media and big tech social media. We are the ones who are being silenced bit by but. Day by day.
Ben Shapiro well documented his case and he’s right.
Actually it’s an op Ed piece written by Ben Shapiro published by the New York Post.
So you're admitting that your statement was false. Well, it's a start.
I don't have a platform like Shapiro, either. But you don't see me falsely claiming to have been silenced, as he and you do.
Do books scare you?
How is "it comes from a book!" a rebuttal?
I never thought I'd see the day when derogatorily labeling something as "from a book" would be the sum total of an argument.
You are misquoting and mischaracterizing Comment 7.1 4.
However, with the conservatives' propensity for demonizing academia, "it comes from a book" would seem to be a natural epithet for them to throw around. Are you sure you didn't get that quote from Tucker Carlson or Hannity?
Empty claim is still empty.
Nope, have 500 of them although I confess I haven't unpacked them or recounted since I moved last time.
It's not a rebuttal if there's no argument Sean, just an observation that the link in the article goes directly to Amazon.com.
The "except from the book" is indeed a self serving advertisement for the book.
Sorry that that's what you see Sean. When I notice your feeble attempts to annoy me, this is what I'm always reminded of.
Quit putting words in my mouth and talking down to me. You are no better a person in any way shape or form. I can see the difference between what a common heartland middle/working class American like me has and one of our advocates in the alternative media has. He and I are speaking truth no matter your partisan spin to the contrary.
Shocking isn’t it?
Baseless counter comment is still baseless.
blatantly false. The link to the article goes directly to the New York Post.
seeing our conservative articles and posts on this site seems to many to be all it takes to annoy you.
Wrong again.
Lies and hysterical nonsense guaranteed to be true 100% of the time is in fact annoying,
untrue more often than not
and insulting to our reader's intelligence.
And yet you persist in railing that your voice & freedom of speech are being curtailed.
smh
I’m still right no matter how often you and Sandy post to the contrary. Nothing can change that.
When it comes to a match up between you and Sandy, Sandy wins, hands down, every time. No contest. I'm really surprised you don't already know that.
Very far right. Other than that, not so much. Actually, never that I'm aware of.
Shocking that Sean misquoted and mischaracterized SP's comment? Yes, that is very shocking.
Calling the expressed opinion of others that you don’t agree with lies and hysterical nonsense is not a positive sign of emotional maturity. It is mere labeling. And rather condescending.
according to who exactly? Excuse me if I don’t accept you as an arbiter of such things.
according to whom? Are you speaking for the rest of the readership or only for yourself?
in general across the country and by the executive branch, social media, and the mainstream media and other institutions it’s absolutely true. Next time I seed an opinion or news article from The Stream or Breitbart we will see free speech being curtailed. And who will gleefully do it.
He didn’t do that…
He is speaking for the rest of the readership. Conduct a survey and find out.
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You're the one who chose to support a blatantly false statement in the article by declaring it to be correct. The fact that the article exists proved that statement to be false. That's simple logic, which is always superior to childish whining and poutrage.
Check's in the mail
You post here daily as if you are some emotionally immature acolyte without freedom of choice.
No it isn't. There's Fox, ONN and plenty of conservative outlets on radio, tv, the internet and print. You seem to find them quite easily day in and day out.
Be my quest and we shall see which MOD follows the rules
(and the MBFC guidelines the site conservatives voted for)
the quickest.
Makes no difference to me as long as the rules are followed reasonably and evenly.
If you believe the words "it comes from a book" or "from a book" are contained in Comment 7.1.4, you require an intensive course in remedial reading.
If you believe Comment 7.1.4 is, in any sense, a derogatory labelling of the seeded article as "from a book", you have a serious problem with reading comprehension. Or, you are an acolyte of "Alternative Facts", and also believe 2+2=5, the Earth is flat and the Moon is made of green cheese.
A survey? Lol! As if the sites liberal and conservative readers would all agree on such a poll….
I would never accept your posted opinion as fact on any matter at all. You could post here that the sky is blue and I’d go outside in the morning to verify it for myself before accepting the content of your post saying so. The premise of what Shapiro is true for many of us and there’s not a thing that you could say that would be anything more than your opinion on the matter. Which I flat out reject out of hand as of no value to me whatsoever.
It looks like you realize the results of the survey would confirm that your so-called conservative articles and posts on this site would be regarded by the rest of the readership as insulting to the readers' intelligence. Otherwise, you would not dismiss it out of hand.
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Are you doing okay? Are you with family?
Pee Wee Herman type comment is still Pee Wee Hermanish.
Yeah, she kind of is, in every way.
Only in your mind.
That just makes you wrong then.
Go ahead. Double down on the ridiculousness of the position expressed within your comments. Complain that somebody is being silenced, while quoting from his column, which is in support of his soon-to-be-released book.
I’m doing ok or just fine. I’m not the angry one here. I simply seeded an article I liked and agree with and stand by all of the points made in it as true. The anger and resentment is what is being directed at me because I will not in any way recant as desired by some. That the rage here from the left side of the aisle is strong is confirmation of the truth of what Ben Shapiro wrote. There is no insult, or put down or name calling, or condescension directed at me that can get me to deny or recant the fact that I agree with him. 🤣🇺🇸🦅🗽😌👌
Baseless counter comment is still baseless.
Again, nothing more than your personal confirmation bias and your opinion. In Gods eyes we are equal. That’s what matters.
more fallacies and confirmation bias. Assuming that only the secular progressive dogma matters or can be expressed. You actually believe that I’m the only one who believes Shapiro to be correct?
merely personal opinion from the opposite ideological side.
I stand by the words written by Ben Shapiro that the editorial board at the New York Post decided to print. That they are excerpts from his book on the issue doesn’t make it any less and op Ed piece nor does the length of his writing in any way impact on the validity of the content. Cheers to the New York Post and all other news papers and web sites that carried his wide and true words.
America’s Silent Majority Must Fight Liberals Killing Freedom Of Speech
Stand by words that contradict the speaker just by the fact that he said them, if you like. He who actually is being silenced can't complain publicly about it, by the definition of "being silenced". The rest of us will point out the contradiction. Repetition won't make it any less of a contradiction.
Not "blatantly false".
Is this not the last line of the seed?
That link went directly to Amazon.com
Stop already, please. I thought some conservatives SAY it is liberals who do the whining. But just look at this article in all it's 'glorious' victim-hood!
And? What’s the point? The article written by the author was taken from the same points made by the same author in his larger work representing his correct take on given issues. This is not the first time that excerpts of a book has been used as the basis of an opinion piece or editorial. The bottom line is that the actual article source in the seeded link is the New York Post.
I listened to the Ben Shapiro talk radio show today and he covers each of the points in his article and detailed why each was right on with real examples of each.
Duh, what else would you expect?
Advertising is verbotten.
Ahhh... it's a most delicious kind of irony is when an ultra-conservative figure writes a book about being silenced [Deleted] Soooo so funny! I'm sure the hypocrisy is lost on those that champion Mr Shapiro too.
What the fuck? When has either side been "silent"?
Freedom of speech is a cherished 1st. Amendment right. Sadly the woke secular progressive left despises that right when their domestic opposition uses it. Thus they use their control of mainstream media and social media to act as agents of government to censor and content control their opposition.
that's hilarious, coming from the biggest abuser of flagging on this site.
Stop it, please. Here y'all are 'abusing' us with freedom of speech! "Woke-secular-progressive-left"? Is this name-calling? How come it is not? This article is a 'hot-mess.'
No. There are places it doesn’t exist or is severely restricted. As to name calling, a description is not name calling. Calling a group democraps or Trumpturds/Trumptards would be name calling or labeling. I didn’t do that.