Sliding Into Irrelevance: Pro-Censorship Stance Obliterates Careers – and Minds

The once-great Naomi Klein. I had great respect for her until she burned her very considerable credibility to the ground, by publicly and viciously attacking Glenn Greenwald recently – after he quit The Intercept, for not agreeing to their new policy of enforced censorship, saying Glenn had “lost the thread”.

A) She took the utterly wrong position on the matter; and B) she was viscious, and publicly viscious, with her friend and ally and peer, who was in fact in the right. Therefore, (C) she, not Glenn Greenwald, has lost all credibility.

Every thinking person should be opposed to censorship, and in favour of freedom of speech. It is shocking that this needs to be explained to the general public. Censorship always leads to authoritarianism, and is the very hallmark of authoritarianism. Good intentions don’t matter. It always leads to authoritarianism. And authoritarianism, of course, means the slow or rapid death of democracy, freedom, human rights and constitutional rule, and the birth of elitism and tyranny.

Understand this. If we lose freedom of speech, we lose democracy and freedom. I don’t know how anyone fails to understand that.

So, yes, every thoughtful person should be anti-censorship and pro-free speech.

As Chomsky said, summing things up with his usual lucidity, “There are only two positions on freedom of speech. You’re either for it, or you’re against it. If you’re in favour of freedom of speech, you’re in favour of it for precisely the views you despise. Everyone’s in favour of freedom of speech for views they like. Stalin was in favour of freedom of speech for views he liked.”

The trend among liberals and among large segments of the left for the past few years has been towards censorship. I would call this the faux left, because the real left has always been anti-authoritarian, and if you’re anti-authoritarian, you’re certainly opposed to censorship and in favour of freedom of speech. That, or you’ve had a virtual lobotomy.

So, when Glenn Greenwald quit The Intercept, which he co-founded, and where he was its star investigative reporter, over his unwillingness to go along with the Big Money-controlled Intercept’s, new policy of censorship, it was a litmus test, and a big deal. From Glenn’s stance, and from the reactions of people to what happened, we can see very well who is a closet authoritarian, and who has a brain remaining, and understands the value and fundamental importance of freedom of speech.

The Intercept and Naomi Klein lost all credibility in that incident. I would no longer cite either of them, or refer to either of them, and certainly would not rely on them, since they have now proven they have a profound lack of sound judgment. I will continue to encourage people to read Naomi Klein’s most important book, The Shock Doctrine, but I would otherwise not reference her as a reliable source for anything, anymore.

It’s too bad. When a media outlet or a journalist loses their sound judgment, or their integrity, and in this case it is both, it is a tragedy, and a great loss. They will be missed.

J. Todd Ring,
Author of, Enlightened Democracy,
and, The People vs The Elite
February 25, 2021

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Post-Script:

What did the litmus test show? Did your favourite journalists or news sources defend freedom of speech, Glenn Greenwald and Julian Assange, or attack one or more of them? From that you can tell where they stand.

If they were silent about Glenn Greenwald, maybe they just didn’t know about it. But if they were silent about Julian Assange, then they have zero credibility. If they attacked either Glenn Greenwald or Julian Assange, then you know their credibility is less than zero. And if they have adopted or supported censorship, then they are closet authoritarians, whether they realize it or not, and are leading us all into authoritarianism, whether they realize it or not – and their soundness of judgment, as a result, is zero.

Who got it right? A very partial and incomplete list, as a start, would be Aaron Mate, John Pilger and Jimmy Dore. There are many others, but the sad fact is, the pro-censorship zombies have taken over. We will have to push them back, or we will have a very dark age ahead.

Between the neo-Jacobins and neo-Maoists, the dim-witted many, and the truly fascist few at the top, we are in very grave danger – along with freedom, democracy, constitutional rule and human rights being under full-scale attack. Do not take this lightly.