OPINION:
Whoopi Goldberg was just suspended from “The View” for two weeks for saying something she shouldn’t have about the Holocaust and Jews. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez just called for Facebook to be “broken up” for allowing coronavirus viewpoints to go forth that she thinks shouldn’t have been allowed to go forth.
The temptation for conservatives may be to applaud Goldberg’s suspension and cheer Ocasio-Cortez’s called-for break-up of Facebook.
But truly, true conservatives, true patriotic, conservative Americans ought to be doing the opposite.
This is not time for tit for tat.
This is time to stand strong on principle.
Yes, Goldberg has a “View” experience that includes clashing with former President Donald Trump, yet defending the sexual assaulter Bill Cosby, and of being a general pain in the you-know-what to all-people-conservative in ideology.
Yes, Facebook is a tenacious censor of conservative thought, of COVID-19 uncomfortable truths, of pro-lifers and Christians who stand tall for biblical principles.
But Goldberg has a right to an opinion — even ridiculously wrong, flawed, deceptive and outright offensive opinions. And Facebook, as a private company, does have a certain right to so-called censor — which, in the private market, wouldn’t be rightfully labeled censorship so much as selection.
Taking advantage of current Goldberg-slash-Facebook situations to crow wins for the conservative movement is not the winsome move.
Goldberg’s assessment of the Holocaust — that the Jews weren’t targeted for their race — is wrong. But conservatives don’t shut down dissenting viewpoints simply because they’re offensively wrong. Conservatives, instead, persuade of the correct viewpoint.
Facebook is wrong to censor viewpoints that its pinheaded censors, or equally pinheadedly programmed analytical tools, deem outlandish, incorrect, skewed, racist, discriminatory, damaging, dangerous and the like. But conservatives don’t side with a socialist like Ocasio-Cortez who argues that Facebook should be divided and conquered because its platform allows COVID-19-tied postings she deems as “disinformation.” No. Nope. Never.
The socialist way is to argue Meta, a.k.a. Facebook, is guilty, as Ocasio-Cortez argues, of a “corrosive abuse of democracy” that is “contributing to and accelerating social violence,” by allowing information to be posted that counters the standard government point of view on coronavirus mitigation — that is, face masking, social distancing, staying home, taking the vaccine, taking the next vaccine, taking the booster, the next booster, the next booster. That’s the tyrannical way. That’s the dictatorial way. The conservative way is free speech.
Conservatives don’t call for shutting down a business simply because that business puts out messaging conservatives don’t like. Conservatives, instead, make the legal and political case of Facebook’s quasi-government nature and ongoing violations of Section 230; conservatives question whether these protections ought to be pulled — and argue for Congress to do its legislative and constitutional duty to uphold free speech.
These are perilous times in America right now.
From every corner come calls to censor, catcalls to stifle, cries to shut down and boot and shut up those who speak the so-deemed unspeakable. But we need to be careful about taking revenge of the stiflers and censors when they get ensnared in their own woke webs.
Conservatives shouldn’t enter that movement, no matter how tempting.
John Adams, of fiery patriotic stock, nonetheless put his family, his fortune and his personal fate on the line to defend British soldiers accused of murdering colonial innocents. He did so not because he believed in the British cause, but because he believed in basic liberty-leaning principles of law, of the rights of the accused, of the solemnity of the judicial system versus mob rule.
It was a tense moment in American history, one where it could have been all too easy to cast aside principle for political expediency and the will of the masses.
But for Adams, principle won.
And now, as then, conservatives and patriots should stick with principle. The fate of America’s constitutional system, freedoms and God-given liberties depends on it. Free speech swings both ways — all ways, in fact. And revenge, even against the most odious of entities, is still shortsighted.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Socialists Don’t Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall,” is available by clicking HERE.
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