​Kevin's Culture Corner:  

​Music, Politics and American Culture

Freedom of Speech

by Kevin Comtois
​

It seems that we have entered a new dystopian era where there is one kind of free speech in America.

Take the elections of 2016 and 2020 for example. In the aftermath of 2016 election, news reports, media commentary, political speeches and Democrat Party rallies all called into question the legitimacy of the election of Donald Trump. We heard all kinds of speculation about Trump colluding with the Russians; Trump was an agent of Putin and was going to sell out America for a profit to his company; Trump colluded with Wiki Leaks to release emails from Hillary’s Campaign Chairman Leon Podesta. All this speculation fell under the guise of free speech and legitimately so. The right to express yourself means you have the right to have an opinion that is not factual. The right to free speech means that you have the right to express an opinion even if others think is wrong. For four years we heard about Trump not being the legitimate president – that he really wasn’t elected by the people and needed to be removed as soon as possible.

Flash to 2020: the election is won by Joe Biden and there is plenty of speculation about voting irregularities in multiple states, evidence of outright fraud in certain counties, voting machines in at least four states turning off in the middle of the night and then turning back on with new vote tallies, and even truckloads of ballots showing up in Pennsylvania from New York with the truck driver providing a affidavit about what he witnessed. These complaints – which would have been considered under the protection of the first Amendment to the Constitution just a year ago, are now considered treason by the mainstream media and the leaders in the Democrat party. In fact, President Trump was impeached for saying that the election was stolen and people should “peacefully march to the capital and make their voices heard.” Conservative commentators have been vilified, de-platformed and de-monetized as an attempt to remove any opposition to the 2020 narrative that there were no irregularities in the 2020 election. This attempt to silence speech is Orwellian at best and evil at worst.

If it was “heroic” to question the legitimacy of Trumps election in 2016, how is it now “insurrectionary” to ask questions about Biden’s election in 2020?

Freedom of speech is for all Americans: Liberals, conservatives, libertarians and socialists!