Hear, Hear . . . The Silencing

Add Kirsten Powers to the growing list of people alarmed by the increasingly hostile intolerance of the left. Last year it was Ben Shapiro in his book Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans. Up next this month is a new book co-authored by Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham called End of Discussion: How the Left's Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun).  

Shapiro, Benson, and Ham are all on the right, so no surprise to be hearing criticism from conservatives about left-wing tactics. But you know it's gotten bad when liberals themselves take on their own. Jonathan Chait, former editor of The New Republic who currently writes for New York Magazine recently criticized the left in a column called, "Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say." Arguing that political correctness has devolved from its original meaning of "evasion of hard truths" to its current iteration of regulating political discourse by "defining opposing views as bigoted and illegitimate," Chait writes: 

Political correctness is not a rigorous commitment to social equality so much as a system of left-wing ideological repression. Not only is it not a form of liberalism; it is antithetical to liberalism. Indeed, its most frequent victims turn out to be liberals themselves.

And now there's Powers' new book, The Silencing: How the Left is Killing Free Speech (Regnery Publishing), in which she cites example after example of the "illiberal left" (her term) literally silencing not just their ideological opponents but sometimes even those in their own tribe. It's a brave book, mainly because Powers will likely become the hard left's new demon, despite her liberal bona fides. The fact that she's both a Fox News contributor and a recent convert (from atheism) to Christianity, makes her an easy target for the tyrannical left. I'm sure she's armed and ready for the assault (there are over 70 pages of endnotes), and I, for one, hope she's able to withstand it because this country needs reasonable, thoughtful liberals to expose the tactics of the intolerant left. 

As for the book itself, I think chapter six ("The War on Fox News") could be a stand-alone essay, and as such, should be required reading for college freshmen. That chapter, as well as chapter seven ("Muddy Media Waters") should be studied in journalism programs, while chapters eight ("Illiberal Feminist Thought Police") and nine ("Feminists Against Facts, Fairness, and the Rule of Law") should be mandatory in gender studies programs. But we all know that will never happen. 

God bless you, Ms. Powers. It takes courage to stand up to those you know will turn on you. I pray you don't go silent. 

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Socialist. 

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not     speak out—because I was not a Trade Unionist. 

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew. 

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

(Martin Niemöller)

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For further reading: 

Not a Very P.C. Thing to Say (Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine, January 27, 2015).