An interesting thought experiment is to apply logic that leftists use to shutdown their perceived enemies to their own hate-filled rants.
For example, Robert De Niro got a standing ovation for his profanity-laced anti-Trump rant at the Tony awards back in June. A word that he used in his attack against Trump literally means “to have sex with”, and a literal meaning of the rant was an exhortation of gang rape of the president.
Any claims that that De Niro did not intend his rant to be sexual in nature are irrelevant based on leftist logic. The fact that the word in question has many meanings is irrelevant since the accuser gets to define the meaning. The fact that De Niro and Trump are both male is irrelevant to establishing the sexual nature of De Niro’s rant since leftist dogma says that physical gender is irrelevant.
Based on the left’s standards against “hate-speech” and alleged support for the victims of sexual assault, De Niro and everyone in the room who stood and applauded him should be immediately fired. Any future meetings of the Tony Awards should be banned and/or face massive violent demonstrations, and any public figure perceived to support the Tony Awards should be hounded by the media about ending support.
Of course this analysis ignores the most basic starting point of leftist logic: Outrage is directed only against perceived enemies of the left. De Niro is a leftist. So are the people who stood to applaud along with the vast majority of media covering the event. The few non-leftists in the audience know to keep their views to themselves are else they will be blacklisted. The idea that leftist logic would be applied to their own rants is therefore absurd to even contemplate.
Did I miss anything in this analysis?
Do you think reactions in the media would have been different if a De Niro-style rant had occurred at a NRA convention and was directed against a gun-control activist?
(I cannot post any links because they would violate the rules on this forum, but a quick search on the internet will show videos of De Niro’s rant. A quick search will also show that he is hardly alone; his profanity catch phrase has become a rally cry to attack Trump.)
I’ve read this through twice and still don’t quite understand your point. Might want to work on tightening up your thoughts before typing them for the public.
The left used to lecture others about the need for civil discourse and continues to advocate banning hate speech.
Now their slogan against the main leader of their opposition is a profanity that literally advocates sexual assault against him. Isn’t that hate speech?
I have done none of that nor have I advocated for anyone on the Left, with me, to do that.
Please do toss out your blanket accusation of “the left” and name some specific names with some specific instances aka examples so we can better discuss this.
“At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized, at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do; it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.”–President Obama 2011
I have not heard President Obama or other leading Democrats saying anything against De Niro’s rant. I have heard any calls from the media for them to reject the hate.
Now, if you can provide a link to Obama saying he has changed his mind about his admonishing people to use words that heal and do not wound, which obviously De Niro’s words did, well then lay it on me.
The left never demanded civil discourse. The left doesn’t advocate the government banning hate speech. Oh, also Robert Deniro doesn’t speak for the left. He said something crude, some people in the room thought it was funny.
It is plain that the left, including Obama himself, ignore the words. Can you find any case where Obama has ever rebuked a Democrat for saying something that was less than civil?
On the other hand, he gave De Niro the Medal of Freedom shortly before he left office. I haven’t heard anything about Obama asking him to return it.
