Freedom of Speech vs. the Thought Police – Ep. 277

The Peter Schiff Show Podcast

Press Wants Freedom of Speech as Long as It Fits Their Agenda One of the few rights left to us in this country is the freedom of speech. If we don't defend speech that we find offensive, someone else will find your speech offensive and move to silence you. Political correctness, is evolving into the Thought Police via the mainstream media. In particular, President Trump's reaction to the events in Charlottesville is being portrayed as a defense of White Nationalists over Black Lives Matter. Nothing is President Trump's remarks supports this story. President Trump, in the lobby of Trump Tower, was subjected to an inquisition by the Press, who intended to entrap the President and further their agenda to mischaracterize him and anyone who supports him. Disrespecting Donald Trump and the Office of the President I know very few members of the Press respect Donald Trump; this is clear. But they need to respect the office of the Presidency. Could you imagine members of the Press treating President Obama the way they are treating President Trump? Can you imagine the cries of racism? Of course, no member of the Press would dare show that type of disrespect to President Obama. Condemning Violence on Both Sides President Trump is refusing to denounce only the violence perpetrated by the White Nationalists without also mentioning that the Black Lives Matter group, who assembled without a permit, also engaged in violence. The Left is saying that President Trump has not denounced the White Nationalists enough. What the President said was that he was condemning the violence on both sides and that angered the left. They hold that the President should only condemn violence committed by the White Nationalists. That would be hypocritical. Background on the Event To give you a little background, the park, formerly named Robert E. Lee Park, was re-named Emancipation Park and the city was going to tear down the statue of Robert E. Lee that had presided over that park. So there was a local protest that the statue was coming down. It was coming down regardless of local protests. A local group wanted to protest the fact that this was happening. This group eventually got a permit although it was initially rejected. So they engaged in a legal protest to exercise their First Amendment rights. The counter protesters, who came in from out to town did not have a permit landed first physical blow. Freedom of Speech is there for the Offensive Ideas Are the ideas that the White Nationalists offensive? Yes. But it doesn't matter, because that is Freedom of Speech. It is there because of the offensive statements. See, nobody cares if you say something that makes everybody happy and doesn't offend anybody - you don't need freedom to do that. The scenario that the left is trying to spin and the media is playing right into it is that America is afraid to go anywhere near anything that would draw the ire of the politically correct thought police. We have a very tenuous grasp on the right of freedom of speech, and there is no doubt in my mind that this right is going to go.