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We Can’t Have ‘National Dialogues’ If People Get Fired For Talking Honestly
The Federalist ^ | 07/03/2020 | John Loftus

Posted on 07/03/2020 7:11:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

“While we write and print millions of words about race in America, why is it still so hard to have a truly respectful, decent, and humble dialogue about perhaps the most complicated and contentious issue in American life?” asks David French in his Dispatch article “American Racism: We’ve Got So Very Far to Go.” Yet he does not mention in his story of personal change the elephant in the room: the Black Lives Matter movement’s radical cultural hegemony.

Establishment Republicans made the same mistake by ignoring the movement’s radical premise: that at its core, America is rotten and systemically racist, and thus woke Americans must rebuild and reimagine the country from the ground up.

Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney marched with the Black Lives Matter movement, and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeted, “It’s important to understand that the death of George Floyd was personal and painful for many. In order to heal, it needs to be personal and painful for everyone.”

Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell admirably tweeted, “Our republic can survive a pandemic. It can survive civil unrest. But ideas and deliberation are our foundation. America cannot be America if civil disagreement becomes a contradiction in terms. Anti-speech silencing tactics are a cancer in a free and open society.” But aside from McConnell and Sen. Josh Hawley, few Republican leaders denounced BLM’s central claim.

Maybe many Americans are willing to have a productive conversation about race. Maybe they want to respectfully question the merits of workplace diversity training programs, for example. But the risk in participating far outweighs any reward.

Bow or Be Canceled

A Vermont school principal was placed on administrative leave for writing on Facebook, “I firmly believe that Black Lives Matter, but I DO NOT agree with the coercive measures taken to get to this point across; some of which are falsified in an attempt to prove a point.” Tim Gordon, a Catholic high school theology teacher, was fired for comparing Black Lives Matter to a terrorist organization. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology Catholic chaplain was forced to resign after sending an email in which he said Floyd had “not lived a virtuous life.”

Paul Krugman and a number of prominent academics called for the firing of University of Chicago professor of economics Harald Uhlig. On Twitter, Uhlig criticized Black Lives Matter, saying, “Too bad, but #blacklivesmatter per its core organization @Blklivesmatter just torpedoed itself, with is full-fledge support of #defundthepolice.” Krugman fired back, “Yet another privileged white man who evidently can’t control his urge to belittle the concerns of those less fortunate.”

No one outside conservative media can criticize Black Lives Matter without being fired or ostracized, so how can we expect the average American to chime in for a productive dialogue?

Furthermore, American corporations reinforce BLM’s cultural sway, driving conversation in one direction. The biggest corporations have donated millions to Black Lives Matter and related organizations. Diversity consulting has become fashionable.

Nike released a solemn advertisement morally blackmailing citizens who do not stand up for, or kneel to, Black Lives Matter. MTV changed its logo for LGBT Pride Month and Black Lives Matter. Even the children’s network Nickelodeon interrupted broadcasting to air a social justice message. Indoctrination doesn’t begin on college campuses with activist professors; it begins with “SpongeBob Squarepants” reruns.

Hollywood celebrities also play their part. Like corporations, celebrities donate millions of dollars and share videos of infamous antisemite Louis Farrakhan with their countless social media followers. Black filmmaker and producer Ava DuVernay, who directed “Selma,” warned white men in Hollywood that questioning social justice dogma could result in unemployment. “Kindly remember,” she wrote, “bias can go both ways.”

Polite Conversation Is Impossible

It’s baffling that any Republican leaders or conservative voices could think it is time to have a chat with Democrats about race relations. That discussion would never include conservatives or anyone else who dissents. Black Lives Matter is not interested in making fact-based arguments. Its activists win arguments through social coercion.

Meanwhile, the most important institutions driving American culture already picked a side. Their leaders kowtowed to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Maybe conservatives should be asking ourselves: How do we defeat identity politics and multiculturalism with the legal and political mechanisms at our disposal, and how do we erect our own cultural institutions to push back against corporate America and Hollywood’s influence?

Contra French, polite conversation cannot exist while powerful cultural forces erode the bedrock upon which this country was founded: the Constitution and the rights enshrined therein. When we form a strategy to defeat these forces and succeed, then we can talk about race relations without capitulating to radicals. Otherwise, no humble, decent, and respectful conversation about any contentious political issue will ever occur again in this country.

Citizens are targeted for their political views. Our American founding has been slandered. The last thing we should do is turn the other cheek.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: blacklivesmatter; cancelculture; college; corporateactivism; corporatewokeness; culture; davidfrench; dialogue; firing; freespeech; highered; hollywood; honesty; joshhawley; mitchmcconnell; mittromney; nikkihaley; race; racism; wokebusiness
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To: SeekAndFind

Because, TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.


21 posted on 07/03/2020 7:52:52 AM PDT by JimRed (TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: SeekAndFind

The Left doesn’t want a dialog, they want a diatribe.


22 posted on 07/03/2020 7:53:33 AM PDT by LateBoomer
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To: kosciusko51

The Left wants to tell you _exactly_ what to say, and will get you fired if you don’t mouth their talking points.

Welcome to North Korea!


23 posted on 07/03/2020 7:58:23 AM PDT by cgbg (Masters don't want slaves talking about masters and slaves.)
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To: Savage Beast

“...contempt for TRUTH...”

And it is this, exactly this, that the Dems, the Media, and the Left have shown us they feel. They’ve demonstrated this beyond all doubting and any excusing.

And these people are, to a large extent, in charge of our nation. And people like this simply cannot be in charge of anything.

So, like everybody else, I’m not sure what to do, but I do believe that something must be done. Pretty much immediately.


24 posted on 07/03/2020 8:01:12 AM PDT by jocon307 (Dem party delenda est!)
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To: SeekAndFind

The left wants no dialogue - they want to lecture, and they want MONEY.


25 posted on 07/03/2020 8:07:38 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: SeekAndFind

If workplace training demands honest, open discussion of race, and a white employee says “As a matter of fact, I AM racist... here’s why...”, will he be allowed to clear out his desk before being escorted off the premises by security?


26 posted on 07/03/2020 8:08:50 AM PDT by Demiurge2 (Define your terms!)
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To: jocon307

“Its activists win arguments through social coercion.”

One reaction we’ve been seeing for some time is that many Whites have retreated from the public sphere; look at the decline of civic and religious groups. The radicals have assumed control of many of these facets of our daily lives, even whole geographic areas, just as others have simply lost interest/walked away from them. Even the institution of marriage was hijacked, but only at a point when so many people pay it no mind at all anymore - it was just a trapping of the former WASP culture here that is swiftly being erased.


27 posted on 07/03/2020 8:14:11 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: chuckee

‘Doubtful when 95% of their effort is looking for blame for the dysfunction in the community outside the community while only 5% is spent on realistically trying to confront the root causes and toxic values within the community that cause it.’

gasp; dat be raciss...it be true, but it be raciss...


28 posted on 07/03/2020 8:14:58 AM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: kearnyirish2

Precisely, because the Left creates a toxic environment, that people who otherwise have successful lives say, “Why Bother?”

This is what nation that is going down the toilet looks like.


29 posted on 07/03/2020 8:16:49 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind
We Can’t Have ‘National Dialogues’ If People Get Fired For Talking Honestly
DUH! That's the whole point.

I would rephrase that to:
We're not going to have ‘national dialogues’ if people get fired for talking honestly.

30 posted on 07/03/2020 8:18:14 AM PDT by lewislynn ( It's not your color stupid, it's your attitude.)
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To: dfwgator

There is a generational aspect to this coming to a head as well; it is becoming more pronounced in my state of NJ, as older American taxpayers see little point in paying teachers 6 figures to babysit (not educate) primarily foreign students. As more and more Americans don’t breed, they realize they are funding all the freebies for the imported underclass (on top of the domestic underclass) that does.

It has become an annual fall ritual to see school supply “giveaways” by some businesses on the news - and I’ve never seen White children receiving anything from them. Those businesses are basically donating some of the proceeds they’ve raised from sales of other items to people paying their own way - these items aren’t “free” in any sense (any more than public schools or “free” lunches are “free”)..


31 posted on 07/03/2020 8:27:59 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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To: SeekAndFind
The last thing we should do is turn the other cheek.

Whether people want to recognize it or not war has been declared, and it wasn't peaceful conservatives that did so. Each of us needs to make changes in our lives to ensure our Republic survives and thrives. None of those changes should include giving up our freedoms and liberties. Fight these bastards socially, economically and if it comes down to it in the streets.

If you employ a leftist, find a conservative replacement and fire his ass. Stop buying crap and services from leftist business. Ridicule and abuse any Karen your run into. Put your RINO politicians on notice - they are part of the problem and need to be likewise destroyed. Then go about destroying them. Use the same tactics as the left.

32 posted on 07/03/2020 8:36:51 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA ("War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." - George Orwell, 1984)
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To: Demiurge2
If workplace training demands honest, open discussion of race, and a white employee says “As a matter of fact, I AM racist... here’s why...”, will he be allowed to clear out his desk before being escorted off the premises by security?

Writing annual employee reviews with semiannually and quarterly followups, over forty years in the telecommunications field beginning with the USAF, I always had to include the statement that "this employee adheres to the policies of Equal Employment Opportunity and Treatment."

This isn't an "honest, open discussion of race", it's by rote dogma from the top down.

33 posted on 07/03/2020 8:46:57 AM PDT by higgmeister ( In the Shadow of The Big Chicken)
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To: SeekAndFind

Its intentional.
Do you truly believe CNN or MSNBC or NYT or BLM or the DNC or BHO want to sit down and have a honest two way conversation?


34 posted on 07/03/2020 8:52:43 AM PDT by Leep (We can go to the grocery store but we can't go to work?)
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To: SeekAndFind

We’re way past getting fired for speaking honestly. We’re now at getting fired for NOT POSTING anything supportive of blm, or for liking a post that is critical of blm. The free speech horse escaped from the stable a long time agon.


35 posted on 07/03/2020 8:55:19 AM PDT by I want the USA back (THERE ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO BE A DEBATE TRUMP VS BIDEN! It will be the best show ever!)
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To: I want the USA back

And don’t think being on social media will work, they’ll just assume you avoid social media because you are racist.


36 posted on 07/03/2020 8:56:18 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: dfwgator

s/b And don’t think NOT being on social media will work


37 posted on 07/03/2020 8:56:38 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: SeekAndFind

THEY can loot, burn buildings, and murder - AND keep their jobs and seats in Universities.

WE are not allowed to say anything. It’s time to turn the tables.


38 posted on 07/03/2020 9:00:36 AM PDT by GOPJ (Leo Terrell - Michael Shellenberger - Stephen Hsu.."TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH" -(imred)
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To: Alberta's Child
I have no interest in a “national dialogue” about anything.

I'm with you...this is the crapola of the left...anytime the morons can't push their stupidity, they immediately start yakking about having a conversaaaaysion.
No interest!!

39 posted on 07/03/2020 9:05:56 AM PDT by Cuttnhorse (Nothing dies harder than a lie that people want to believe)
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To: jocon307
It is TRUTH--TRUTH for its own sake that will save America.

The greatest TRUTH is this: GOD.

These are the very reasons why hate-filled, decadent degenerates despise TRUTH, and this is why they flock to the hate-filled, decadent, degenerate, godless Democrat Party.

Note tagline.

GODLESS NATIONS FALL!

40 posted on 07/03/2020 9:13:07 AM PDT by Savage Beast (President Trump, praying for guidance, giving his salary to charity, is on the Side of the Angels.)
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