Nuts

“The Man who cannot afford to Speak his Thought is a Certificate of the Meanness of the Community in which he Resides”  -  Robert Ingersoll

Even in this country protected by the First Amendment and a with a strong tradition of upholding freedom of expression, there have been continuing attempts over time  and often successful ones to restrict or stifle free speech. Most of them fall into one or two classes – direct suppression by violence, mob action,  or law and suppression through intimidation by social pressures and threats of financial consequences or ostracism.  Blasphemy and obscenity statutes, Wilson’s imprisonment of dissenters during World War I,  and beatings and tarring and featherings of unpopular speakers are historical examples of the former.  The pressures on non-religious people in universities, most small towns, and many large ones well into the 20^th  Century not to let their opinions be known  are examples of the latter. 

The serious threats and attacks of the present time come from the American left.  It is fairly clear from things which have been said and written that many leftists actively and seriously want to prohibit discussion or advocacy of political or ethical opinions they dislike and that many more are at least willing for it to happen.  They try both methods, but apart from some college campuses and a few towns such as Berkeley where authorities cooperate with gangs of thugs to shut down speech and speakers the authorities don’t like, this is still a free enough country that the direct approach is not going to work very often. They are having much more success with the second method.  The canons and restrictions of so-called political correctness have become the rule in government, the traditional media, and many large companies and organizations of all sort  and have metastasized  throughout much of society to the point that  in a recent poll 58% of Americans said they were afraid to say what they really think.

In a column a few days age,  Robert Tracinski emphasized that social intimidation works only of a person allows himself to be intimidated.  If one stands up and says he does not give a damn if some or all  on the left sneer at him, call him some sort of “ist”,  lie about him, mischaracterize what he says, or label him as uncool, there is really nothing they can do about it. People need to realize that and enjoy the sense of liberation it can bring.

Of course there are people such as employees of Google, commentators at ESPN, actors, untenured professors,  and people with jobs  in  governments or many large corporations who would risk damage to their careers if they were caught deviating from the party line. One should admire those who dissent while understanding why many do not.  That leaves the rest of us (and especially the retired among us whose livelihoods the would be thought police literally cannot damage at all)  with the task to say what we think whenever we find it appropriate without worry or self-censorship  and  to be especially vigorous in opposing and repelling  the left’s attempts intimidation.

There is no need to be too rude or vulgar about  one’s opposition, just firm and clear and harsh enough. In December of 1944 German forces had units of the 101^st Airborne Division surrounded in Bastogne in Belgium.  Under a flag of truce two German officers and a couple of enlisted men brought  General Anthony McAuliffe, the American commander, an insulting written demand for surrender. McAuliffe’s  written reply was the one word  “nuts”.  As the Germans left the American positions, two American soldiers explained in German and English  to the German officers who were not up on American slang that it meant “go to hell.”  That is about right here for the lefties. Nuts to them.