Alleged Free Speech Champions Are Campaigning Against Speech They Don’t Like

There is more than a little irony in the fact that the acolytes of the right -wing provocateur killed Charlie Kirk, praised as champion of freedom of expression, spent the days that followed his hard death to attack people and even make them fire for factual publications on social networks on harmful and noisily broadcast political beliefs of Kirk.

Brutally murdered last Wednesday, allegedly allegedly by a 22 -year -old man with a dangerous rifle and immersion in the “meme” Internet culture, the founder of Turning Point USA has been complimentary, even by certain liberals, for his commitment to freedom of expression and his desire to debate – wildly and loose – detractors. However, his admirers, from the powerful Stephen Miller to the dark people who direct a website entitled “Charlie’s Murderers”. Who will listen.

The most prominent victim of this crusade is now forming Washington Post The columnist Karen Attiah, who announced Monday morning that she had been dismissed by the newspaper today for a series of publications on social networks by deriving the cultivation of firearms and “inaction” by “white America” ​​to do anything about the epidemic of armed violence. On her substitution, she wrote that the Job said his publications on social networks were “unacceptable”, “rough misconduct” and endangered “the physical security of colleagues”. In none of her messages, she did not applaud the murder of Kirk. The day Kirk died, MSNBC’s contributor Matthew Dowd lost his job for having said on the antenna: “I always come back, hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then led to hateful actions.”

Unfortunately, political motivation shots come with the territory when you are a commentator on the consumer media – often lamentable, but not uncommon. Much more unusual was dozens if hundreds of dismissals of people whose work has nothing to do with politics.

Teachers and administrators of Greenville, South Carolina; Forest Grove, Oregon; Miami Country Day School, and at least a dozen other districts have lost their jobs or have faced a suspension for “inappropriate” social media publications, the school districts confirmed. (Some messages seemed to celebrate Kirk’s death, which seems to be a questionable judgment but which always seems to be a protected speech.) The Ministry of Defense has announced that it was examining the social media publications of the members of the Kirk wandering opinions, in particular by expressing insufficient grief on his death. An employee of the Ministry of Internal Security was dismissed for having published on X: “If you cry this guy, delete me. He spat hatred and racism in his program.” An X account assembled a “trophy case” of these layoffs and others.

Delta, United and American Airlines announced that they had suspended pilots and other employees, pending an investigation, because Kirk Post, a CEO, said “went far beyond the healthy and respectful debate”.

The “Charlie’s Murderers” site says that it has collected more than 30,000 submissions of people who would celebrate Kirk and / / appellant for violence. I could not access the site on Monday, but other media reported having seen little if not calling for violence.

Canadian journalist Rachel Gilmore said he received a “tsunami” threat after the site shared an online video from Gilmore criticizing Kirk, but saying that she hoped to have survived the shooting before the announcement of her death.

“It is absolutely fair to call him a coordinated harassment campaign,” Laura Edelson, assistant professor of Northeastern University and director of the cybersecurity project for democracy, told CNN. “This is absolutely why it exists, to coordinate and target harassment towards selected individuals.”

My mentions X have been a sewer since I wrote “Let’s not forget who was Charlie Kirk” on Thursday with a partial list of his offensive statements over the years. The insults are all familiar, a large part of the word C, the word b, many comments on my age and my ugliness (which go hand in hand). The most beautiful criticism called me “grandmother”. Fortunately, I don’t have to fear being dismissed, although many criticisms called for my dismissal, because I work at The nation.

We should not be surprised that right -handers who claim to promote freedom of expression only want freedom for their own opinions. Their objective is not freedom but power. They will use this tragedy to take more power and hurt more dissidents over the days. They do not celebrate the murder of Kirk – a lot undoubtedly cared about him – but they certainly take advantage of it, even by reveling. I would not go near his funeral at the Cardinals stadium in Arizona with 60,000 places near Phoenix next Sunday, and I have ventured in all kinds of frightening events of Trump over the years. But I think this crusade is just beginning, Miller and Trump threatening the pursuit of the people they perceive as contributing to the atmosphere that led to the murder of Kirk. Of course, there is not a single American more responsible for the current climate of fear, enmity and violence of the country than Donald Trump. Do not expect him to look in the mirror.