Muzzling the Muzzlers

High dudgeon is in fullest exhibition following the Senate’s rebuking Elizabeth Warren for repeatedly violating a rule prohibiting “besmirching the character and motives” of a fellow Senator (Attorney General candidate Jeff Sessions). The Senator has been “silenced,” as the Left is declaring in lock-step. The New York Times, as usual at the forefront of identity politics, observes,

For Ms. Warren’s supporters, it was the latest and most visceral example of a woman muzzled by men who seemed unwilling to listen.

So, not only was her freedom of speech violated, it was done so because sexism.

This is tendentious hyperbole, of course. Warren’s message was in no way silenced or smothered. We all know it, we’ve all heard it, it’s all over the news and social media. The sexism part is false outrage, because even considered from a position of partisanship, the Senate’s rebuke was political, not sexist.

It’s also the height of both irony and hypocrisy. The Left, which nowadays thrives solely on a diet of outrage and hyperventilation, has turned the silencing of the opposition into its signature tactic. The list of non-liberal speakers chased away from college campuses by liberal barbarism and opposition to free speech is long and growing. Conservative gadfly Milo Yiannopoulos was chased away from Berkeley with violence and riots.

The protestors argue, laughably, that they are exercising their First Amendment and free speech rights in quashing the free speech rights of others. They miss a fundamental aspect of liberty, i.e. that the exercise of one’s liberty cannot infringe upon the exercise of another’s. But, given that the Left has defenestrated the idea of equality with an Orwellian “some are more equal than others” grievance hierarchy, we shouldn’t be shocked by that oversight. Liberals’ rights are more important than non-liberals,’ and Warren’s “right” to speak her mind on the Senate floor is more important than the Senate rules governing the form of such speech.

There’s a healthy amount of schadenfreude in the Left’s outrage over Warren’s silencing. It’s also a bit of a teachable moment. Liberals on college campuses claim the right to control what is said on those campuses, so they really can’t argue that the Senate doesn’t have the right to control what’s said in its chamber. Well, they can, but they’ve sawn off the leg upon which they’d need to stand. When you’ve established that you consider it not only OK but a proper exercise of “free speech” to shut down others’ free speech, you’ve foregone the ability to justifiably argue when yours is infringed.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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