I have been following CNN's Dean Obeidellah closely over the past year. He's another "progressive" who thinks Free Speech only applies to his side. Today he wrote on a topic and his interpretation of the subject was so terrible, I honestly can't believe I read the statements on CNN.
He didn't say it in the heat of the moment. It wasn't an off hand remark. It wasn't caught on a live mic. It was from an article.
Let's start here:
"Those shocked by these types of protests simply don't grasp the level of emotion that many who oppose Trump feel."- Then I guess you weren't paying attention 4 years ago. Your frustration is EXACTLY the same as the frustration on the RIGHT with Obama. The difference is you couldn't figure out why people were so upset with YOUR guy. If you talked to a cross section of Americans, instead of the ones on your "team," you'd notice that the country is split pretty evenly between the Angry Left and the Angry Right.
"But let's make it clear, this is not about asking someone to leave or heckling them simply because they are Republicans or Conservatives. That would be wrong. This is about targeting people who are very publicly involved in formulating and defending Trump's immoral policies."- You are now treading into very treacherous territory.
Let me give you an example. I, Fred Hunt, am Pro-Choice. I am a man. I believe that a woman should control her own body. Now, I have come across many Pro-Lifers in my time that have told me I am 100% wrong, life begins at conception, blah, blah, blah. You've read the arguments. At the end of every argument, the Pro-Lifer ultimately pulls God's Moral Authority Card. And my retort is always that of the smart-ass, "if God wants to float on down here and straighten out the Abortion debate, I welcome his presence."
So let's assume that Dean Obeidellah is a good Progressive and he, also, is Pro-Choice. When he goes out to dinner, would he like it if he was shouted down by Pro-Lifers? Refused service because of his Pro-Choice stance? Pro-Lifers would say they don't hate Obeidellah because of his ancestry, but because of his immoral policies that he supports online.
No, their chants were very specific to Trump's family separation immigration policy she had been publicly defending just days before, telling Nielsen: "Do you hear the babies crying?" and "If kids don't eat in peace, you don't eat in peace." That is literally speaking truth to power.
I can hear it now. The religious right chanting down Obeidellah everywhere he goes, Obeidellah is a baby-killer. You don't get peace until the babies get peace. I can hear the Religious Right screaming That is literally speaking truth to power!
See the immoral policies card cuts both ways. FOR THE ONE ZILLIONTH TIME, I voted for Gary Johnson. The reason I re-emphasize this is because I was on a Libertarian website today which argued the Sarah Huckabee Sanders Case BOTH WAYS.
Argument #1: Just serve everyone.
And the opposite view....
Argument #2: You don't have to serve ANYONE you don't want to.
The second article argued for the Freedom of Conscience. Neither article advocated specifically stopping the immoral Trump. Both tried to frame the argument as good or bad policy using different types of examples.
Which circles us back to CNN. Here is the list of Obeidallah's last articles:
You may be screaming "well Rush Limbaugh's columns all slant one way!"
And you'd be right. Where do you read Rush Limbaugh's columns?
That would be at rushlimbaugh.com
Where do you read Obeidallah's one sided columns? At CNN.
Rush Limbaugh NEVER, EVER pretends to be a centrist.
I'm not even saying fire Obeidallah. All I'm saying is, if you're CNN, you need to balance him out. When Trump screams about fake news, he's screaming about the one sided nature of CNN. When I'm reading the Libertarian sites, every day I read "I'm done with you, you lean too far right." And then the next day "I'm done with you, you lean too far left." They try to focus on ideas.
CNN should publish an Opinion piece from Obeidallah, then one from Sean Hannity. Now you're screaming FoxNews leans one way. Again, they don't pretend that they don't.
So you read my article and still don't understand how Obeidallah is an Enemy of Free Speech. Let me be clear. Let me be concise.
If you are advocating harassing your enemies and screaming them down in their personal time, that's fine. Using the above Reason example, we are going to also allow your enemies to harass you and scream you down in your personal time. Or we could go the civil route and no one gets screamed down and harassed in their personal time.
I'm going to go out on a limb and speculate that Dean Obeidallah doesn't agree with me.
"But, but you don't understand how bad Trump is...."
Listen.....
I begged you not to vote for Trump in 2015.
I begged you not to vote for Trump in 2016.
I warned you not to impeach Trump in 2017 (or else you would get Pence.)
Now it's 2018. Let me be CRYSTAL CLEAR. Every article by the Dean Obeidallahs of the world is sealing the 2020 election for Donald Trump. The more you insult the Trumpies, the more angry they get. You can voice your opinion about Trump all you want, just don't pretend like you're not being partisan about it. For the record, for all of the thick-headed Progressives who think I lean too far to the Right.
PLEASE
I beg you!
DO NOT vote for Trump in 2020.