Attorney with Stellar Career with NY Legal Services Dares to Have an Opinion that Counters the Woke Narrative.

Here’s an example a good-hearted intelligent attorney who has been cancelled by fringe left-wing ideologues. This type of problem started off as a few rain drops (e.g., the case of Steven Pinker), but now we’re in a torrential storm. There are so many other stories emerging too. Many people have personally communicated to me that they are afraid to express their opinions--they are afraid to like my FB posts, even though they agree with many of them.

This is the case of Maud Maron, a Legal Aid Attorney who has had a long and stellar career in NY, but how dare she express an opinion that counters the prevailing narrative! Off with her head! She has filed suit against her office. The allegations described in this article by FAIR are extremely disturbing. Here's an excerpt from FAIR's article:

As a committed public defender with an exemplary record for over two decades, Maud has represented poor and low-income New Yorkers of every skin color in criminal court. But when she wrote an op-ed disagreeing with Robin DiAngelo’s illiberal claim that all white people are racist, her employer and union publicly attacked her in racially-charged social media posts about her alleged “white superiority,” what she must think simply because she is, in their words, a “white practitioner,” and how she participates in “white supremacy” and “oppresses” others solely because of her skin color. By claiming they are “ashamed that she works at the Legal Aid Society” and emphatically stating, “Enough is enough,” they made it clear she was no longer welcome at her job.

Continue ReadingAttorney with Stellar Career with NY Legal Services Dares to Have an Opinion that Counters the Woke Narrative.

Ben Franklin: It’s “a Republic, if you can keep it.”

On September 17, 1787, as delegates left the Constitutional Convention in Independence Hall, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government do we have?

"A Republic," he replied, "if you can keep it."

I am stunned at the willingness of many on the political left to ignore the First Amendment out of convenience when it comes to their favorite issues. As I predicted several days ago, the ACLU has been silent. Many of us who used to fear government censorship are publicly warming up to that idea.  In recent days, Glenn Greenwald has commented repeatedly. For example:

Those who remember the recent past the federal government be able to declare and enforce its version of the "truth" re COVID.  Here's a few examples:

There is apparently something in the water that is causing Americans to become obtuse, unable to understand their own history, their own government and nuance. Many people who hear my opinions of these topics accuse me of liking it when malevolent and stupid people kill other people by spreading lies about COVID.  They think I like it when harmful false ideas are spread through social media. Many of them are proud Americans who wave flags and celebrate the Fourth of July, but they don't understand the function and power of the First Amendment and free speech (the latter of which is a broader issue). It's as though they don't understand that many truths are complex, making them unendingly imperfect and tentative. It's as though they don't understand that by allowing the marketplace of ideas to run its course, we will be in the best position to understand what is going on around us on every topic and every issue. It's as though they want to completely trust a government that excels in spewing out lies, year after year, administration after administration.

Is it too much to ask that Americans understand their own Constitution before willingly shredding parts of it?

Continue ReadingBen Franklin: It’s “a Republic, if you can keep it.”

The United States is Dictating to Facebook What We Can Say to Each Other

The U.S. government is providing a handy new service for us. We no longer need to worry about what to say and think! It is well-established, however, that the First Amendment prohibits the government from forcing private companies to censor.

I would like to think that the ACLU will file suit tomorrow to crush this obvious violation of the First Amendment, but I have no confidence that that will happen. And beware: Censorship is a potent narcotic that is difficult for governments to quit. Republicans are undoubtedly licking their chops now, waiting for their chance.

Continue ReadingThe United States is Dictating to Facebook What We Can Say to Each Other

Carl Sagan’s 1997 Prediction

In 1997, Carl Sagan wrote the following in "The Demon Haunted World":

Science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren's time—when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness.

The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance. As I write, the number-one videocassette rental in America is the movie Dumb and Dumber. “Beavis and Butthead” remain popular (and influential) with young TV viewers. The plain lesson is that study and learning—not just of science, but of anything—are avoidable, even undesirable.

We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements—transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting—profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.

Continue ReadingCarl Sagan’s 1997 Prediction