One of the most horrifying aspects of totalitarian regimes is their habit of targeting not just dissidents, but their family members as well. The uncle or second cousin of a freedom fighter could find himself in the gulag just because of the blood relationship, even if he hadn’t had any contact with the offender in years. In North Korea, the lovely Kim regime scoops up not just dissidents, but their entire families, and sends them to concentration camps; there are children who actually grow up behind bars. But none of that can happen here, right? Not yet, but we’re on the way: conservative YouTuber Lauren Southern revealed Tuesday that hyper-woke Airbnb banned her parents from using their service, for the crime of being related to her.
My parents just got banned from AirBnB for being related to me.
They have never booked anything for me. They do not represent me in any way. They aren't publicly political in any way.
How is this sane in any way @Airbnb pic.twitter.com/SOF01xkJFS
— Lauren Southern (@Lauren_Southern) February 7, 2023
Southern, who has 718,000 subscribers on YouTube, tweeted a notice that her parents had received from Airbnb: “We have an update to share. We’ve removed you from the Airbnb platform because your account is closely associated with a person who isn’t allowed to use Airbnb.” This was true in light of the fact that anyone can be characterized as “closely associated” with his or her parents, but Southern explained: “They have never booked anything for me. They do not represent me in any way. They aren’t publicly political in any way.”
Nonetheless, Airbnb was lowering the boom: “This means you’ll no longer be able to book reservations on Airbnb.” Adding insult to injury, under the heading “Why we made this decision,” Airbnb added: “For the safety of our community, we may remove accounts that are closely associated with people who aren’t allowed to use Airbnb.” The arrogant fascist wokesters did not, of course, explain that Southern wasn’t banned from using Airbnb because she set fire to somebody’s apartment, or stole all the silverware, or left someplace full of trash. She states: “I was banned years ago for my politics and ‘affiliations’ as well,” and now Airbnb, a little North Korea, was extending the ban to her relatives as well, assuring them unctuously at the same time that “we don’t take these decisions lightly,” which made it all even worse.
Southern observed: “My parents are some of the sweetest people I know. They were just planning a romantic getaway, they aren’t political activists. 🙁 All I’ve learned is that if governments and corporations can’t shut you up by harming you, they’ll now go for your families.” Indeed. But as it turns out, Airbnb couldn’t take the heat. Tucker Carlson’s producer Gregg Re contacted the woke giant and reported: “@Airbnb tells me it was a ‘mistake’ to ban Lauren’s family members. Decision ‘reversed.’ They say Lauren is still banned, although the spokesman did not explain why. He says that’s forthcoming in an email. Also he denied Jay Carney is targeting political dissidents.”
A “mistake.” Sure. Have you ever noticed that “mistakes” of this kind are only discovered after the woke corporation in question receives a barrage of negative publicity, and that they only ever go in one direction? Southern’s initial tweet has eleven million views as of this writing; that’s a lot of people seeing that Airbnb is a gang of totalitarians who have politicized their business and made it abundantly clear that dissidents from the Left’s agenda are not welcome. Faced with the prospect of a massive economic hit, these tinhorn Marxists suddenly discovered a “mistake.” No woke business has ever made the “mistake” of banning a prominent Leftist, much less the family of a prominent Leftist. These “mistakes” have a peculiar tendency to victimize only people on one side of America’s great ideological divide.
Related: Democrats Defend Free Speech for Chinese Citizens but Support Censoring Fellow Americans
Even worse, Re published exchanges he had with Airbnb’s Ben Breit in which Breit explained that the corporation banned Southern because she was “affiliated with hate groups,” but repeatedly refused to specify which “hate groups” were a bridge too far for Airbnb. There really isn’t any real doubt about this, however. The far-Left company almost certainly relies on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s spurious and heavily biased listing of “hate groups,” which classifies virtually any organization that stands against the Left in any context as a “hate group.” Virtually all the other woke giants use the SPLC’s bogus and defamatory list; why shouldn’t Airbnb?
But why should what is advertised as a service for helping people find lodging concern itself with such matters in the first place? If a lodger uses the premises for illegal activity, then he or she should be prosecuted. Otherwise, Airbnb has no business being concerned with politics at all. Except that’s what companies do in totalitarian states. That’s the kind of society the Left wants. Boycott Airbnb!
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