Using Capitalism to Control Free Speech

   There's an old Marxist phrase that says:

      "The capitalist will sell you the rope you intend to hang him with"

     It essentially means that money means more to the capitalist than his freedom (or in this case his life) and no truer words were ever spoken than these as we see this played out today in our country.

     I remember when the term "politically correct" (PC) first came out.  At first it was used by people on the left from college campuses and we were taught that it was just about us policing our speech to be more tolerant for others.  Black was replaced with African-American.  Chinese was replaced with Asian-American.  Alternative-Lifestyle replaced words like gay, queer or homosexual.  For the most part we bought into the new terminology and accepted it as fashionable or accepting of others (although I was always confused why "white" never was given a PC term and continues to be used today).

    But the march of the PC police did not simply stop with our terminology.  Today the left hunts down those with politically "incorrect" views and ideas regardless of whether those views are of any concern.   By using the capitalist system, they have managed to do what they were never able to do through the power of the government: instill fear into the American mind.  Communists for years tried to use government to squelch speech and thought, but were stymied by our 1st Amendment rights which guarantee these freedoms to its citizens.   So they turned to the "free market" system to do their dirty work by taking the freedom out of the free market and like the phrase says, the capitalists have been more than will to "sell them the rope".

    Take for example the former CEO of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, who in 2008 gave $1000 to support California Prop-8 (a traditional marriage proposition).  His PERSONAL contribution mysteriously becomes public knowledge in 2014 and a pro-gay organization mounted a campaign to boycott Mozilla.  Fearing lost revenues the board decided to fire Eich from his position rather than stand up for Eich's right to hold his own personal views.    Did Eich not hire gay workers?  No.  Did he write a company policy on hiring gay workers? No.  Did he have his company give money to anti-gay organizations?  No.  Did he have his company put anti-gay statements on their companies website?  No.  He merely gave a $1000 to a political organization from his personal account on his own personal time.

    Another more recent example is Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones.  He recently made a tweet about being offended by viewing Michael Sam (NFL's first openly gay player) kissing his boyfriend on national TV after being drafted.   The Miami Dolphins acted quickly having fined Don Jones and barring him from team activities until he has finished "training classes for his recent remarks".   So now it is not enough to be fined, he will have to go through extensive "brainwashing" in order to keep his job as a professional football player.  Did he say he would not play with a gay player?  No.  Did he make remarks about what he would do in the showers with a gay player? No.   He just stated how he felt about what he saw.

     Then there is the story of the Benham brothers.  Twin brothers who own a home remodeling company were to be stars of their own show on HGTV called "Flipping it forward" in which they would help poor people renovate their houses.   The two brothers are outspoken and unabashed Christians.  A group called "Right Wing Watch" dug up statements they made on gay marriage and abortion advocated for the show to be boycotted.   HGTV, like all the rest,  crumbled like a cheap lawn chair and caved to the pressure by pulling the show.    Of course after doing some research (and who has time to do that these days) it can be found that the statements used were completely out of context and misstated altogether.   Were the two brothers only helping Christians? No.  Where they espousing gays be rounded up and re-educated?  No.  Were they advocating for abortion doctors to be killed or lose their license to practice? No.

   Finally there is the story of Don Sterling, owner of the LA Clippers.   Recently his views were made public by an escort who illegally recorded him making racist remarks regarding black people.  First off, he's a fool and an idiot! But the last I saw there's no law against being either (if it were Washington DC would be void of people for they would all be in jail).  The NBA, fearing reprisal from the black community now wants to force the sale of the LA Clippers from Donald Sterling, while still others want to make it even MORE permanent by making it illegal for anyone of Sterling's descendents to EVER own an NBA team (punishing the children for the sins of the father).   Did Don Sterling pay black players less than white players?  No.  Did Don Sterling order only white players should be hired?  No.   Did Don Sterling order only white people can be season ticket holders?  No.  Did any of us even know Don Sterling held racist views before this came out?  No.  Did Sterling have separate seating for blacks and whites?  No.  He is just a stupid old man who is too trusting of the people around him.

Putting Profit Over Principle

    In each of the above cases, a corporation fearing a loss of revenues (no matter how small) is willing to trample on a persons freedom of thought and expression (even if that expressions was thought to be private).   But these knee-jerk decisions are shortsighted.  Like the capitalist selling the rope to the hangman, eventually his willingness to sell off freedom will come back and kill him.  Recently a conference took place in Madison Wisconsin, called the White Privilege Conference in which teachers, administrators and high school students were indoctrinated for 3 days on the idea that "racism drives everything in our country"  and that "capitalism == racism".   Hidden video has been leaked out from the conference showing some of the most vile and hateful statements on race I have ever heard.  In my opinion, the PC police will not stop until they control everything in this country.  Will organizers boycott any company that does not have a black (or at least non-white, non-heterosexual, non-christian) CEO at their helm?   What about their board of directors?  How many of them are white or non-white?     Have they given money to "racist parties" (sarcasm added) like the GOP?   Are they racist if they believe in small government and low taxes?

     Maybe you consider me to be an alarmist, but many also sneered and mocked the PC movement in the 90's and now lament as to where it has gotten us.  If the "White Privilege Movement" takes root in our country like the PC movement we will see our country slide into the same racial hatred that Nazi Germany experienced in the 1930's.   To me, the White Privilege Movement is not much dissimilar than the Aryan Movement used to by Hitler to rouse hatred of the disenfranchised in his country.  Hitler used this hatred to put him into power and once in power he no longer needed these people and had many of them murdered in "The Night of Long Knives".  

    Finally, this "racial-bullying" will not end until the companies wake up to what is happening and see that the noose is tightening around them and they stand up to these PC bullies for the rights of their employees to believe and speak what they believe.   Until they do that the PC bullies will only get more extreme and more demanding until free speech is a faint thing of the past.

    Otherwise company execs, the only question left for you is this:

                         "Do you want your noose made of nylon or hemp rope?"