The Rest is Silence
Free speech isn’t free anymore. Expressing an opinion comes with a price that the speaker/writer might pay if someone in a position to do that person harm chooses to take that step. Cancel culture on the right and the left has turned deadly—literally.
I and my family had been a subject of “free speech” when we lived in Maryland. We were surrounded by three families of regular church goers for whom anti-semitism was a calling. I fought against it, involving both the FBI and the Anti-Defamation League. The only solution was to move away, far, far away.
Before my experience I was a contributor to the ACLU—American Civil Liberties Union. But after they assured me my neighbors had every right to say whatever they wanted, I decided I had every right to give my money elsewhere.
Mine was an individual and very painful case. Now this virus of hate has gone nation-wide, not just against Jews but against everything. Is there an opinion anyone can hold that someone won’t find objectionable?
No longer do we just turn away, muttering, “Each to his/her own opinion.” Now someone must pay for annoying us. They have to lose their job, be shunned by the community, be sued—be shot to death.
Is there a rational solution to this madness? “A soft answer turneth away wrath.” But that’s from the Bible, and we now know that the Bible has been weaponized. No longer a source of comfort; it’s become a source of vengeance. And for a certain president, money.
But let’s get to specifics: cancelling late night hosts. Late night means I don’t see them. But I do see the cowardice behind their firing. How craven can you get? Well, I think our country is going to continue to find out.
Another experience I’d like to share: I’ve never been fond of working a regular job for a regular pay check. But I have temped. You go in, you stay a few weeks, you leave. Perfect. So I know office culture. May I say that businessmen are mediocre—at best. They’re cogs in the wheel of commerce; and, if you unplugged them from their spot on the wheel, they’re lost. They have to play the game to get ahead or even stay at the same level. “No guts, no glory?” They have no guts, and they cave—and cave—and cave.
That’s how we’re silenced. Checking out our own bottom line and asking ourselves is it worth it to take a stand. Knowing the consequences, is it worth it to interfere, to protest when we see our neighbors being taken off the street by these Gestapo tactics? Is it worth it to defend librarians when some nutcase demands books be removed from the shelves so no one could possible be offended—or even broaden their mind beyond the limited boundaries of their own community? Is it worth it to say hate has no place in our hearts or in our public discussions?
Yet we’re living surrounded by hate. And fear. Are we at the end of our democracy? Many scholars think so. But I think our country and its ideals are worth fighting for. And I don’t mean sending the National Guard into the streets of American cities to confront their fellow citizens. I mean us, no matter our beliefs, standing together in common cause to defend our Constitution, our Bill of Rights, our pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.
Let us not be craven. Let us not be cowards. Let us not be sunshine patriots. We have enough of them in the administration, the Congress, the military and the Supreme Court. We can survive this tsunami of destruction if we stand together and say enough is enough.