Thursday, April 20, 2017

A Disturbing Trend Among Conservatives


Most of you who follow my page know that I am a fairly moderate, but right-leaning conservative with a Libertarian stance on many issues. However, even though I normally side with conservatives, I have always said that I am not above calling out those same conservatives when I believe they have screwed up.

Looking back at the last couple of years, it would be difficult to honestly say that Democrats are the party of free speech. They might make this claim, but the truth is, they only support free speech if it aligns with their "progressive" agenda on topics such as Feminism, Islam, LGBTQ rights, abortion, law enforcement, and Black Lives Matter.

If someone speaks out in support of any of their "approved" issues and receives any kind of backlash, even if the claim is unsubstantiated, liberals are immediately up in arms. They immediately begin demanding that the company be boycotted, or the offending employee be fired, even if the alleged offensive act did not take place while they were on the clock. They picket, protest, scream, yell, and plaster the offender's name and picture all over social media; doing their best to completely ruin their life.

They are not happy until the person is legitimately scared to leave their home and is forced to go into hiding. All of this usually happens before any investigation has taken place. But even when that investigation eventually exonerates the person or company being accused, it's not enough for the irate “social justice warriors”.

© 2011 Andy Armstrong, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio
Unfortunately, I have gotten to the point where I just expect this backlash any time I hear of one of these incidents. At first, it really bothered me. But I am seeing now that every time liberals react in this fashion, it has less credibility than the last time. Even though they are encouraged and validated by the liberal media, these attacks are losing the shock effect they once had.

I pride myself in being pretty open to all opinions and points of view. Even though I am quite outspoken about my stance on most political topics and current events, I welcome healthy discussion or debate almost any time, so long as you can remain calm and mature. This open mindedness immediately ceases though as soon as the opposing argument resorts to irate labeling and name-calling. Sadly, this is the typical outcome of these conversations. I believe that is one of the reasons I have continued to identify as a conservative, even though I take a liberal stance on many subjects.

For the most part, conservatives might disagree with you on a topic, but as long as you don't try to blatantly interfere with their constitutional rights, they typically don't resort to mob-like tactics to silence those who disagree with them. They don't demand that a person be fired if they happen to speak out in opposition of their platform. Nor do they begin making death threats or committing acts of arson. And they certainly don't start rioting and flipping over police cars.

This is why I am concerned about some things that have taken place recently surrounding a couple of well known conservative names.

© 2013 OFFICIAL LEWEB PHOTOS, Flickr | CC-BY | via Wylio
In February, Milo Yiannopoulos left conservative news outlet, Breitbart, after heavily-edited, misleading recordings came out in which it was alleged that he condoned same-sex physical relationships with underage boys. Naturally, liberals went ballistic; fueled primarily by their hatred of Milo for presenting them with what they consider to be an impossible anomaly – a famous, well-liked, gay conservative.

Conservatives of course, went into damage control mode. For conservatives, this means quickly abandoning and shunning this "Judas" for potentially violating their standard belief system. These conservatives could have stood up and defended Milo, like I did in my article "Milo Leaves Breitbart". But instead, they immediately began distancing themselves from him.

Next, in March, wildly-popular conservative millennial Tomi Lahren with The Blaze, went on ABC's "The View". During this appearance, she dared to cross a conservative party line by announcing that she was pro choice. She went on to explain that while she might not glorify or advocate for abortion, she "can't sit here and be a hypocrite and say [she's] for limited government but...think the government should decide what women do with their bodies."

© 2016 Gage Skidmore, Flickr | CC-BY-SA | via Wylio
Again, as with Milo, conservatives went into melt-down mode; in this case, utterly shocked that someone could be both conservative and pro choice (a stance that I too happen to hold). Rather than standing up and supporting Tomi, they instead began to alienate her.

Soon thereafter, Glenn Beck, founder of The Blaze, decided to permanently suspend her show until the expiration of her contract. At the same time, they took control of her 4.3 million member Facebook page, claiming it was property of The Blaze. While it could be laughable to some, for anyone to take legal action regarding a social media page, these "likes" do have a value, and it is difficult for any public figure to retain their credibility if they lose their social media presence. Fortunately, a Dallas judge ordered that Ms. Lahren be given access to her Facebook page, but with the understanding that she was not to post anything negative about Beck or The Blaze. This battle however, is far from being over.

Personally, I'm not a fan of The Blaze. While I might agree with them on many things, Glenn Beck has taken such an extremist stance on some issues that in my opinion, he has lost credibility. Not to say that he is wrong, but I can't cite "The Blaze" as a credible news source, which as a blogger, makes them worthless to me.

The issue as I see it here, is that conservatives have suddenly begun becoming less tolerant of free speech. Rather than pulling together behind these two well known conservative figures, they were quickly abandoned at the first hint of disagreement.

These two people (Milo and Tomi) were arguably two of the most popular conservative figures, especially among millennials. We could have used this to our advantage. We could have said "we disagree and this is why, but we respect their opinions." Instead, they were pushed aside at the first hint of trouble. Rather than embracing our differences, conservatives took a card from the liberal playbook and punished them for exercising their rights to free speech.

© 2015 Roberto Nieves, Flickr | PD-MK | via Wylio
Now as I'm about to publish this article, it was announced that Fox's top-rated host, Bill O'Reilly was being fired after allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct. Immediately, advertisers began jumping ship as they were hounded by liberals and feminist groups, demanding that they sever ties or risk losing business.

I'm no Bill O'Reilly fan; I never have been. Nothing against him, except that I thought he was disrespectful to his guests, and frankly, a bit of a dick. Obviously though, my dislike of the guy did nothing to hinder his overwhelming popularity among conservatives and even some liberals. Regardless of my opinion on him, he was certainly, without question, one of the top conservative personalities in media.

Now, due to some potentially-baseless allegations, conservatives have quickly severed ties with him. Without even waiting for an investigation or any actual evidence, Bill O'Reilly is out of a job and conservatives have lost another top respected name in media.

This is a mindset that absolutely must change if conservatives wish to remain in power. Otherwise, by abandoning our own for a minor disagreement or potentially unfounded allegations, we are only proving to liberals that they have the power to tear us apart, one conservative figurehead at a time. Thus ensuring that Republicans begin losing our majority in the house, Congress, and eventually the White House.

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Sources
www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/04/10/tomi-lahren-sues-blaze-glenn-beck-for-wrongful-termination.amp.html
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/mar/27/tomi-lahren-out-at-the-blaze-after-pro-choice-comm/



2 comments:

  1. I agree. We make it so easy for liberals to get their agenda when we respond defensively to their possibly unjust attacks and condemn without any evidence. The irony is that my husband came from a Communist country and spent time in jail as a child because his parents weren't politically correct. Telling the wrong joke could put people behind bars. Now he's afraid this sort of thing will be happening here -- just what his family finally escaped from.

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    Replies
    1. Wow, that is an incredible story! It is very sad to see some of the political similarities between the US & communist countries these days. But hopefully things will begin to improve soon.

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