The Left Has Become the Gestapo

I thought about the double standard in free speech as a I read this PJM piece by John Ellis entitled “Male Feminists Gather in Aspen to Ponder How to Fix Men — the ‘Heterosexual White Ones'”:

In case you were unaware, leftists are concerned about men. Believing there to be a “masculinity crisis,” leftists recently convened at the Aspen Ideas Festival to brainstorm ways to “fix” men. Specifically, in the words of The Atlantic, “heterosexual white ones.”…

If you’re puzzled over my eye-rolling, read The Atlantic’s Alia Wong’s description of the conference’s consensus view of “heterosexual white ones”:

What the panelists did agree on is that the crisis is damaging American society—harming men’s educational outcomes, women’s well-being, and the public’s safety. Bridges pointed to research showing that when men feel like their masculinity is challenged, they are more likely to advocate for war, discriminate against homosexuals, express an interest in buying an SUV, and believe in the inherent superiority of men. They are also more likely to express attitudes supportive of sexual assault and coercion.

The paragraph that caught my eye from the PJM article is this:

The fact that people like Michael Kimmel are able to hold hand-ringing discussions about the “Crisis of Masculinity” without the fear of having the door kicked in by the Gestapo is thanks to the very society they despise. At no point in human history have more people had more access to wealth and privilege than in 21st century U.S. of A. Uprooting and destroying the foundations of the system that have brought us to this point is nonsensically stupid.

The left doesn’t have the fear of the door being kicked in because those on the right believe in free speech and leave them alone for the most part. Or it could be that the media coverage for the left is always positive and for the right mostly negative — so those on the right don’t even try, knowing that they have no help, little protection and bad publicity as a consequence while those on the left have few or no consequences for their bad or even deadly behavior.

Compare the treatment that the International Men’s Conference that I attended in 2014 received to those speaking freely in Aspen: there were death threats, the DoubleTree hotel canceled the conference, and some speakers were afraid to show up:

The left doesn’t fear the Gestapo because they have become the Gestapo. They are the ones kicking in the doors now and unless those of us with different voices stand together to stop them, it will escalate.