No, It’s Not ‘Fair-Minded’ To Defend ‘Journalists’ Who Use Twitter To Dox Their Political Enemies
December 15, 2022, will go down as one of the darkest days in U.S. history — at least, that’s the narrative you’d get from tuning in to America’s legacy media this morning.
On Thursday evening, numerous left-wing activists who parade around as journalists were suspended from Twitter after sharing the location of the platform’s CEO, Elon Musk. Included in the basket of deplorables were figures such as CNN reporter Donie O’Sullivan, former Vox journalist Aaron Rupar, New York Times reporter Ryan Mac, Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, and the always laughable Keith Olbermann.
Unlike their non-existent interest in reporting on the “Twitter Files,” which revealed efforts by Twitter to shadowban and censor prominent conservatives and non-narrative facts for years, corporate media jumped into action to decry the suspensions as “unprecedented” attacks against their fellow propagandists.
For people who claim to stand in solidarity with journalists, it’s funny how this same level of outrage was nowhere to be found when Federalist Senior Editor John Daniel Davidson was locked out of his Twitter account in March for factually stating that Rachel Levine is a man. Or when the New York Post was suspended days before the 2020 presidential election for their bombshell story regarding Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Unlike Davidson and the Post — whose suspensions were politically motivated — Rupar and company actually violated Twitter rules. These left-wing activists maliciously disclosed another person’s location, and were sanctioned for endangering people. There’s nothing wrong with that.
While it’s a good thing leftists are finally getting a taste of their own medicine, there are predictably those who think that doing so is a step too far.
“[A]s hypocritical as it may be for leftist journalists to whine about arbitrary Twitter suspensions, what Musk is doing here is also hypocritical,” whined National Review editor Philip Klein.
“Doxxing should be prohibited and a 7-day suspension for the first offense seems reasonable. But it should be a clear policy, not a changing standard,” said the Manhattan Institute’s Chris Rufo. “Arbitrary enforcement was bad before and it’s bad now. Nobody should take Rupar seriously, but he should be on Twitter.”
Other notable non-leftist political figures to come out against the suspensions include Ben Shapiro, Charles Cooke, and Bari Weiss.
Both Sides-ism is a Losing Strategy
While they may have nothing but good intentions regarding speech on Twitter, the aforementioned figures criticizing Musk paint a clear picture of how America has devolved into her decaying state. The compulsion to pretend to give ear to “both sides” on every hot-button story is something Democrats never do, because unlike conservatives, they’re always looking to use institutions to crush their adversaries.
The left is a bully that must meet punishments for its overreach and abuse of the public square and public interest. Just as with any bully, they aren’t going to back off until you sock them in the mouth. Whether the “both sides” crowd wants to admit it, that’s exactly what Musk did. And socking a bully in the mouth is called justice, not cruelty. Those who argue for the latter tacitly admit their own cowardice and refusal to use strength to enforce societal standards.
Timid conservativism and both sides-ism aren’t going to salvage what’s left of this republic. Radical leftists have no interest in letting everyday Americans just live their lives. No matter how “red” you may think your community is, the leftists in it, in concert with weaklings who call themselves conservatives, will find a way to use every mechanism available to force their pagan religion down your throat, drag queen story hour and all.
At the end of the day, it’s either your values or theirs. There is no in-between.
Shawn Fleetwood is a Staff Writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He also serves as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
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