Pundits’ peer pressure smells like censorship
“The pundit police never go off duty.” That’s a great wake-up call from a recent piece by David Bauder at the Associated Press .
It’s all about political commentators right now, but what about the future? Is it just the political pundits who will be watching what everyone says closely or will we end up with a type of word police? Being insensitive has suddenly reached the same level as being a bigot. I’m not justifying either one, but at some point the current hypersensitivity and outrageous scrutiny of every single word you use seem a bit much.
It’s a little frightening since suddenly it’s not government censorship we have to worry about, but “activist censorship.”
Mark Twain reportedly once said, “The difference between the right word and the almost-right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bug.”
What worries me is that before long it’s not going to be about using the right word, but using the approved word.
Certainly we can’t approve of bigotry and hatred, but remember that this country was founded on things like the First Amendment – you remember, the right to free speech – ever heard of it?
Voltaire said, “I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
You said it buddy. Count me in.
