Famous 18th-century French author, historian and philosopher Voltaire said, “I wholly disapprove of what you say and will defend to the death your right to say it.”
A victim of censorship himself under the French monarchy, he staunchly defended freedom of speech. For his criticisms of the ruling government the monarchy twice sent him to prison and once to exile in England.
Fast forward some 300 years later and America, once the home of free speech, has forgotten the lessons of Voltaire. The modern version of the quote might read, “I don’t agree with you and if you say it again I’m gonna kill you, or at least make your life a living hell!”
But then again, Voltaire was soooo 18th century. We’ve come a long way since then. Why should people express themselves and say what they feel when we all know they’re wrong?
Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy
Clearly Mike Lindell, the My Pillow guy, deserved to be dropped by at least 18 major retailers for expressing his views on the handling of the 2020 presidential election. Frankly, why hasn’t the FBI raided his manufacturing facility at dawn and arrested him yet? Certainly a major oversite. More to come of that, I’m certain.
Of course, Goya Foods deserved punishment by boycott then its CEO, Robert Unanue, dared to attend a Trump event last year which touted Hispanic owned businesses and then went on to say something nice about the then president (who is orange and we hate him, not that all orange people are bad mind you).
Then there was the lesser-known take down, according to CBS News, of Maria Tusken, a member of the Knitting Community (yes, it exists). She foolishly defended another member of the community who, in her excitement about taking a trip to India, compared it to a flight to Mars.” Frankly, I can’t think of anything more Un-woke! She received messages denouncing her and calling her a Nazi and a white supremacist. This affected her business and she lost followers on social media.
In addition, a relative of mine, also a former member of the Knitting Community, had members of said community threaten her with expulsion for expressing views on covid-19. She ended up leaving the Knitting Community and joining the Bowling Community which, apparently, is a much more accepting group.
Current Cancel Culture
Seriously, the current Cancel Culture reminds me of the French Revolution. Radicals rose up not only to denounce the Ancien Regime, but to destroy it. Problem was, they replaced it with something more monstrous and oppressive. This resulted in replacing the Catholic Church with atheism and then the Cult of the Supreme Being, adopting a decimal day, renaming the months of the year, etc. . . It also led to price controls, the death penalty for hoarders and ultimately, mass executions.
At this point, the Cancel Culture hasn’t devolved into the guillotine, but given the violence leading up to the presidential election, the movement to defund the police and the threats made to people who speak out against such radicalism, it has the whiff of revolution.
Voltaire, persecuted by the Ancien Regime, died before the French Revolution. While his writings supported a different governmental system, had he lived the zealots of the revolution would probably have arrested him.
Traditional American thought
Traditional American thought allows for freedom of expression without fear of retaliation. While America has not always lived up to that ideal, the right to freedom of expression is under assault like never before. Having gone to school in the ‘60’s and 70’s I know from personal experience teachers in the classroom did not discourage the free exchange of ideas. Student protests took place, but still, campuses did not discourage the freedom of expression. Controversial speakers came to universities and sometimes demonstrators appeared in opposition. This did not lead, however, to banning the speakers from coming in the first place.
Those who think they know everything know nothing. When people can’t freely exchange ideas they become ignorant while living in their own echo chambers. Intimidating others from speaking their minds robs everyone else of something that could help them or change their way of thinking. That is why freedom of speech remains so important and why the Cancel Culture is so dangerous.