*By Vincent Cavaleri, Contributing Writer, Mill Creek City Council, Snohomish County Deputy Sheriff
Recent Tweets and public comments by many leaders on the left including Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) show a pattern of hate filled intolerance that is permeating our landscape. AOC asked, “Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future?” That was followed up by saying “remember what they did, we should not allow the following groups of people to profit from their experience”. In case you missed 7th grade civics, this is called blacklisting. The nexus of cancel culture and the mob.
Additionally, former first lady Michelle Obama stated, “let’s remember that tens of millions of people voted for the status quo, even when it meant supporting lies, hate, chaos and division.” You can see where this is all going. Sadly, these powerful and influential leaders are promoting continued division and to some degree segregation to retain power. It seems the further we get from the 1960s, the more we are pulled back by some of these folks.
Unfortunately, blacklisting is a tool that has been used in America’s past. It seems every 50-60 years this ugly discriminatory vessel rears its head. Despite constitutional protections of free speech that are guaranteed to every citizen, the bigotry continues. Blacklisting is largely centered around politics. In the 1950-60s many Americans were brought before Congress and tagged as “undesirables”, simply because of political affiliation. This label meant that you were considered untrustworthy and worst of all, unamerican. This is the post-election mantra that is spewing from many of the elites. In 2020 we call it cancel culture. The supreme court has handed down ruling after ruling stating the speech is protected. As a matter of fact, political speech is considered the cornerstone of a free society, therefore additional deference and protections should be given.
Blacklisting is one of the worst forms of bigotry. Many American citizens were imprisoned, barred from employment, bankrupted, names ruined, families ruined and some committed suicide. The social and economic stigmas are horrific. This is the goal of these ideologs. Elected leaders like AOC creating “enemies lists”; and of course, tracked by big tech and publicized by the media, feel justified in their conduct.
Being blacklisted was the governments way of pandering to hysteria. The similarities between the way Trump supporters are treated and Hollywood in the 1950s are remarkably similar. Sadly, we are demonstrating this intolerant conduct to the rest of the world. Many that have scoffed at the way minorities were treated half a century ago, have now become the abusers.
Thank you and God bless…..Vincent
