The Marxist mob movement and the cancel culture it has produced are devastating our republic. The worst part is that ostensibly conservative news outlets are complicit with what is happening by submitting to political correctness, causing them to develop jellyfish backbones. The radical left has so intimidated them, they no longer print “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.” Editors censor conservative-leaning articles because they do not meet the “politically correct” standards. These editors must stop fearing the Marxist P.C. police and their repressive tactics.

In 2017, the New York Times eliminated the public editor role, which existed to protect the readers from bias and errors. Perhaps the public editor did too good a job detecting censorship and promoting free speech. Censoring an opinion article can make it take another direction with a slightly different meaning. The result is that it loses its power to communicate the specific issue it is speaking about. This is targeted censorship that inhibits the constitutional First Amendment right of free speech.

The massive effect of subtle vocabulary changes was revealed last week, when Chelsea Mitchell, a celebrated track athlete in Connecticut, wrote an op-ed for USA Today. Her essay exposed so-called “transgender” athletes for what they are. She used the word male in her article to describe those who are born biological boys but, by saying that they are girls, may participate in girls’ sports. The editors of USA Today threw out the word male throughout her article to appease the movement of wokeism. Doing so erased the point of Mitchell’s article.

While no conservative outlet has been as blatant in its censorship, we are seeing creeping wokeism destroy conservative principles. Thus, almost all of them accept leftist ideology through their vocabulary. They unironically use the word “transgender” to describe people with gender dysphoria and use the pronouns these people demand when writing or speaking about them. For example, in a Fox News article about Bruce (aka Caitlyn) Jenner’s announcement about running for California governor, the article states, “She’s hoping to….”

It's not too surprising that conservatives are doing this. The big cat social media companies are using the club of brutal censorship upon conservatives, which they consider their political and cultural enemies. Conservatives, including President Donald Trump, have been censored and eliminated from speaking on social media. Public schools, colleges, and universities are censoring the free speech of conservative students and those they bring in to speak to them. Weaponized censorship will destroy the very foundation of America.

Understanding why conservative media yields to the urge to self-censor does not make it a principled or appropriate act. Shame on any conservative news editor who is trembling in his shoes and hiding under his desk in fear of the radical left and the religion of wokeism!

What made America great? It was brave-hearted journalists courageously printing the truth, regardless of the fallout from the oppressors of the truth. The printed truth has defeated dictators and corrupt politicians, and exposed mafia bosses and their organized crime syndicates. It has kept America “the land of the free, and the home of the brave.”

Totalitarian governments use censorship to suppress free speech to keep people under their yoke. Our great and wonderful Constitution gives us freedom of speech without fear of reprisal for exercising it. Political correctness forces self-censorship and must not bow to or accommodate it. Our conservative news outlets will either help preserve our republic by bravely printing the truth, or they will compromise with the radical, leftist mob to destroy truth by diluting it. The choice is clear: To keep America free, we must keep the news free from Marxism’s oppressive influence.

Let the people speak for themselves, don’t speak for the people by editing their comments. If the people’s right to speak out is censored, in essence, the news media is automatically limiting its right to be a free press without censorship from government control. Likewise, don’t let leftists force vocabulary shifts that implicitly accept the leftist agenda. We are in an all-out culture war for the soul of America.

Before and during the American Revolutionary War, the Committees of Correspondence kept American colonists informed about events so they could coordinate plans to win their freedom. The British tried to stamp out this correspondence because they could not censor its contents. They understood the dangerous connection between freedom and facts.

Printing the truth is not an easy road to follow, but it is the only road that leads to and preserves freedom. Patrick Henry said, “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” There is no liberty, without liberty from censorship.

The news media should be a shining beacon of truth and freedom of speech, not censorship.

IMAGE: Self-Censorship by Andrea Widburg.

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