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When it Comes to Censorship ‘The Times, They Are A-Changin’

A new kind of censorship has become rampant and demands political conformity.
[additional-authors]
July 7, 2020
A man waves a Black Lives Matter flag atop the CNN logo during a protest in response to the police killing of George Floyd outside the CNN Center on May 29, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)

鈥淲here have all the flowers gone, long time passing 鈥︹
鈥斅燩ete Seeger, 1955

鈥淭he line it is drawn, the curse it is cast 鈥 the order is rapidly fadin鈥 鈥 for the times they are a changin鈥 鈥︹
鈥斅燘ob Dylan, 1964

What was there, in the aftermath of the Nazi apocalypse and the then-current Soviet gulag, that led Bob Dylan to believe it was our society that was cursed and fading?

Today, many of us who were around in the 1960s have a sense of d茅j脿 vu. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1964. Riots erupted after his death in cities across the country. President Lyndon Johnson was so unpopular that he declined to be the party鈥檚 nominee in 1968. The Hong Kong flu pandemic, which broke out in 1968 and likely originated in China, caused an estimated 1 to 4 million deaths worldwide. Richard Nixon, who was viewed as highly divisive by Democrats and much of the media, succeeded Johnson as president in 1969, only to resign from the presidency in the face of certain impeachment.

For those of us shaken by our present woes, there is solace in the fact that America thrived after the upheavals of the 1960s. But there are serious questions as to whether our present political turmoil will alter many of the certainties that survived and indeed were nurtured by that now-distant past.

The free speech movement stood for the free, uncensored expression of ideas. It was birthed in opposition to university censorship, enunciated a universal goal and became a hallmark of 1960s liberals. We believed that the best defense against wrong information was right information. No more.

Today, censorship is rampant. Editors of major publications have lost their jobs, as have academics and local government and school officials, and even sports announcers for, in the words of , straying in even minor ways 鈥渇rom the ferocious campaign of political conformity sweeping across鈥 America. Joe Biden鈥檚 campaign has insisted that social media 鈥渃hange [its] hands-off approach to political speech,鈥 and 鈥渇act-check鈥 and censure 鈥渦ntrustworthy content鈥 and 鈥渕isleading information.鈥 In threatening language, the Biden campaign has announced that should social media not comply, 鈥渨e won鈥檛 stand for it.鈥 Alas, factual accuracy often is in the eyes of the beholder.

King, in his famous speech at the Lincoln Memorial, insisted the 鈥渘ew militarism鈥 must not 鈥渓ead us to a distrust of all white people 鈥 [for] their destiny is part of our destiny.鈥 He argued not for a narrow us-against-them paradigm, but for a fulfillment of the American dream: 鈥淲e will be able to transform the genuine discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood 鈥 . [Then] all of God鈥檚 children, Black men and white men, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, 鈥楩ree at last! Free at last! Thank God almighty, we鈥檙e free at last!鈥 鈥

In the 1960s, we liberals argued for the erasure of group distinctions.

We don鈥檛 hear that expansive prayer for brotherhood today, but rather, the divisive chant of 鈥渨hite privilege鈥 that transforms whites in general into guilty enemies who must be brought down.

In the 1960s, we liberals argued for the erasure of group distinctions. Just before his death, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the 鈥淧oor People鈥檚 Campaign鈥 鈥 all poor people, not just Black poor people. Equivalent today would be the unheard rallying cry, 鈥淎ll Lives Matter.鈥 Presidents Kennedy and Johnson signed executive orders that used the term 鈥渁ffirmative action鈥 for the first time, and were intended to achieve nondiscrimination in employment. Today, 鈥渁ffirmative action鈥 means discrimination on the basis of race.

This campaign against these traditional liberal values undermines free speech, democratic debate and cultural tolerance. Alas, these reflections lead me to think of the sad questions of Pete Seeger鈥檚 song iconic song, changing only a few words:

鈥淲here have all the liberals gone, long time passing 鈥 gone to graveyards everyone 鈥 when will we ever learn, when will we ever learn.鈥


Gregory Smith is an appellate attorney practicing in Century City.

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