After watching Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearings, Americans should be outraged. The Democrats used it as a political commercial, questioned her integrity, pushed a narrative that she is threatening and radical, attacked her Catholic faith, and even asked her if she ever was arrested for harassment. But even more disturbing is how conservative women, not only Judge Barrett, but many in other professions, have been threatened because of their views. 

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) recently wrote a book, The Mind of a Conservative Woman. She told American Thinker, “Too many liberals, everyone is merely an economic unit, and every principle is one size fits all. In one of my chapters, I discuss how mainstream media has misrepresented conservative women. They, as with all women, are smart, focused, and want the best for everyone. Yet the press says conservative women's voices do not deserve to be heard because they are pro-life, pro-military, pro-business, and pro-faith."

She went on to say, “Conservative women are treated very differently than liberal women.  They do not want them to have a voice, unless they espouse the liberal talking points.” The senator made this clear during the Judiciary hearings, “They attack you (Judge Barrett) for not fitting into the paradigm of the left, because you’re pro-life, pro-family, and pro-religion,” and “It is so discouraging to me to see groups on the left say we want diversity, but let that diversity come from a woman who is on the political right, and their heads explode.”

Apart from Judge Barrett, this also happened to a best-selling fictional suspense author. (The author and book are unnamed because of the negativity she’s received, and she doesn’t want to deal with any additional nasty comments.) She told American Thinker, “I wrote the book as a prediction of what is happening in America today. I wrote in my novel, how the left breaches tolerance only when you agree with them. I wanted to show how these leftist groups spout free speech; yet, they do their best to shut down voices they do not agree with.”

In other words, as Alan Dershowitz said, “free speech for thee, but not for me” The author noted, “There has been a strong vocal minority of readers who have been very negative.  This is the first time I have had a range of reviews. I received an email from someone who was not happy with the book.  She called me arrogant and self-righteous. She even put a quote from the Bible how we should not be judgmental.  But how hypocritical is that? The reaction to this book has been eye-opening. People have even made personal attacks on me because of this story where the heroine was a strong conservative woman.”

American Thinker found some of the reviews and they were outrageous.  To paraphrase, they said how conservatives do not believe in loving thy neighbor, that the police are racist, and how dare the book criticize the left for attempting to destroy the values America was founded on and blast an Antifa-like organization. The reviewer said in reality Antifa is not a movement and all they want to do is oppose fascism.  Of course, they had to blast the heroine as a white woman who has great power and privilege, with no moral compass, because she supported the police for putting their lives on the line and going after the radical hate groups bent on destruction and division.

The response to the novel , as with Senator Blackburn’s book, is yet another exmaple of a woman being attacked for being pro-life, pro-military, pro-police, pro-business, and pro-faith. As the author noted, “it is cancel-culture at its best. My suspense story was intended to show the extremes people can go to if they want to silence the voices they disagree with as well as the danger inherent in today's society for standing up for conservative principles and values. One woman said that while she agreed with the principles in the book, I was racist. I'm still scratching my head over that one, as this is not a book about race. Her rationale goes like this: I mentioned Rush Limbaugh and Rush Limbaugh is pro-Trump and racist, and since Limbaugh supports Trump -- who the reader said is also racist -- then I had to be racist too. That's the sort of convoluted reasoning -- and assumptions -- I've been dealing with. I've been reamed for vilifying Antifa, for having a heroine who's unabashedly pro-life and pro-police. The vast majority of readers have liked the book and rated it highly. But I definitely got a sample of cancel culture with this one, and how people who dare to espouse more traditional values can be demonized.”

Senator Blackburn also told American Thinker how she heard from a conservative businesswoman who was told by her liberal coworkers that she did not deserve to get a recognition award because she was not supportive of women’s rights and equality.  She went on to say, “In my book, there is a chapter where I discuss how the liberals want everybody to spout their talking points even if someone is not in complete agreement. Some of the liberal women's organizations sent an open letter to all of the newsrooms. It explained how people should talk to a female vice-presidential candidate -- basically, what could and could not be said and how to approach them. I fired off a letter to all of the signatories and all of the newsrooms, stating that this treatment should apply to all women. Of course, I got zero response on my letter."

Whether it involves a businesswoman, a senator, a potential Supreme Court justice, or an author, cancel culture is alive and well.  The Left does not want anyone to highlight conservative women, because their ideals go against the Left’s agenda.  Too bad people cannot look on someone and admire them for their accomplishments. Unfortunately, in today’s society “agree to disagree” is no longer alive and well.

The author writes for American Thinker. She has done book reviews and author interviews and has written a number of national security, political, and foreign policy articles.

Image: Rachel Malehorn