Things you’re not allowed to say: lowlights of the new censorship

Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints quarterback, who has a charity that feeds the needy and helps sick kids, was berated until he apologized for his own personal views about kneeling during the National Anthem:

“I will never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag of the United States of America or our country. Let me just tell what I see or what I feel when the National Anthem is played and when I look at the flag of the United States. I envision my two grandfathers, who fought for this country during World War II, one in the Army and one in the Marine Corps. Both risking their lives to protect our country and to try to make our country and this world a better place. So every time I stand with my hand over my heart looking at that flag and singing the National Anthem, that’s what I think about. And in many cases, that brings me to tears, thinking about all that has been sacrificed. Not just those in the military, but for that matter, those throughout the civil rights movements of the ‘60s, and all that has been endured by so many people up until this point. And is everything right with our country right now? No, it is not. We still have a long way to go. But I think what you do by standing there and showing respect to the flag with your hand over your heart, is it shows unity. It shows that we are all in this together, we can all do better and that we are all part of the solution.”

J.K. Rowling, author of the “Harry Potter” series, activist, attacked online and by GLAAD because she objected to the phrase “people who menstruate” rather than “woman”:

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.

“The idea that women like me, who’ve been empathetic to trans people for decades, feeling kinship because they’re vulnerable in the same way as women — i.e., to male violence — ‘hate’ trans people because they think sex is real and has lived consequences — is nonsense.”

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), in a column that the New York Times published, then apologized for after a staff backlash:

“But the rioting has nothing to do with George Floyd, whose bereaved relatives have condemned violence. On the contrary, nihilist criminals are simply out for loot and the thrill of destruction, with cadres of left-wing radicals like antifa infiltrating protest marches to exploit Floyd’s death for their own anarchic purposes.

“These rioters, if not subdued, not only will destroy the livelihoods of law-abiding citizens but will also take more innocent lives. Many poor communities that still bear scars from past upheavals will be set back still further.

“One thing above all else will restore order to our streets: an overwhelming show of force to disperse, detain and ultimately deter lawbreakers. But local law enforcement in some cities desperately needs backup, while delusional politicians in other cities refuse to do what’s necessary to uphold the rule of law.”

Andrew Sullivan, iconoclastic columnist, not appearing this week in New York magazine. His thoughts (on Twitter) about the Times apology:

“Not just a capitulation. A total surrender. The groveling for running a provocative op-ed by a sitting senator expressing an opinion I do not share but is widely supported is instructive. But groveling won’t appease the social justice mob.

“Each time they notch a victory, they move the goalposts. The NYT editors have effectively ceded their authority permanently. A woke committee already vets everything. Now it will be super-charged. And readers now know this is no longer a paper dedicated to the truth.

“It’s a newspaper run by those who believe truth is a mask for power, that dissent is oppression, that liberalism is a mask for white supremacy, that words are violence, and that open debate is a racist fiction. We all live on campus now.”

Polls show these opinions are ones with which most Americans agree. Liberals don’t want to change minds, to have a debate; they want to banish the argument. The things that you’re not allowed to say. And then they’ll bemoan that we live in a fragmented society, where people retreat to their bubbles, and they’ll be shocked when the next election doesn’t go the way they think.

—The Post Editorial Board