Amy Alkon, at Advice Goddess Blog, on the attacks from the left for her heresy against leftist doctrine and her doubleplus ungood thoughtcrime:
The worst thing about this for me is learning how naive I’ve been in pooh-poohing right-wingers when they tell me how the real fascists are on the left. Again, I take people as individuals, but I’ve learned that there are a whole lot of people who call themselves “progressives” and “liberals” who see speech they disagree with not as a reason to speak out themselves, but as a reason to work very hard to intimidate the person who’s spoken from speaking their mind again.
And this encouraging comment from Tom, emphasis added:
Amy,
What is happening to you has been happening on college campuses for years. Conservatives are generally not welcome on campus. The reason fo this is that the faculty and administrations of 99% of our institutions of higher learning are leftists. “Speech codes” are the norm on most campuses. Some going so far as to ban speech that makes an individual of a certain group uncomfortable. (unless that group is Christian and white)
Democrats are talking about reinstituting the “Fairness Doctrine” because they cannot compete in the marketplace of ideas. This is serious stuff. This is dangerous stuff.
I work with many far left people. I have found that I often find their political positions to be naive, uninformed or in direct contradiction to the facts. I just think they are misguided. They think I am evil. That’s a huge difference.
The biggest problem facing The West is not Islamic fundamentalism. It is the stranglehold that the far left has on our media and academic institutions. There is a big difference between being educated and being indoctrinated.
I’m glad you are not some one who is easily intimidated, Amy. I really enjoy your column and I read it daily. You are way more socially liberal than I am, but I appreciate your intellectual honesty. Because I respect you as a person of reason you have made my re-evaluate some of my positions on various issues. You haven’t changed my mind, but you make me think. Isn’t that what the exchange of ideas should be all about?
Keep your head up.
Tom
