On Monday, Ann McElhinney, producer of the abortion film Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer and co-author of the book on which it was based, was suspended from Twitter for defending Fox News host Tucker Carlson after a Media Matters video incited demands for his ouster.
In the video, Carlson was heard making off-color remarks on the “Bubba The Love Sponge” radio show, adopting the style of the hosts. Notoriously, he minimized the crimes of cult leader and convicted child sex offender Warren Jeffs.
Yet Tucker Carlson was far from the only media figure to minimize pedophile crimes. If, as critics claim, Carlson’s comments “defending a pedophile” are grounds for his firing and worse, then Whoopi Goldberg should receive the same treatment, Ann McElhinney insisted.
She began responding to attacks on Tucker Carlson with a direct quote from Whoopi Goldberg. “Meanwhile Whoopi Goldberg who said the 43 year old Roman Polanski anal raping an unconscious child,: ‘wasn’t rape-rape’.. yup whatever,” she tweeted, responding to attacks on Carlson.
Meanwhile Whoopi Goldberg who said the 43 year old Roman Polanski anal raping an unconscious child,: "wasn't rape-rape”.. yup whatever https://t.co/fwSaUEFPsi
— Ann McElhinney (@annmcelhinney) March 11, 2019
She tweeted a similar message many times.
But Whoopi on 43 year old Roman Polanski anal raping an unconscious child,: "I know it wasn't rape-rape”..whatever https://t.co/WQNH2BQ8ko
— Ann McElhinney (@annmcelhinney) March 11, 2019
On Monday, McElhinney posted on Facebook that she had been suspended from Twitter.
“So I just got suspended on Twitter,” she posted. “For tweeting to people calling for Tucker Carlson to be sacked the following. ‘Meanwhile Whoopi Goldberg who said the 43 year old Roman Polanski anal raping an unconscious child,: ‘wasn’t rape-rape’.. yup whatever.'”
She shared a screenshot of Twitter announcing her ban.
So I just got suspended on Twitter.For tweeting to the people who are calling for Tucker Carlson to be sacked the…
Posted by Ann McElhinney on Sunday, March 10, 2019
“We’ve temporarily limited some of your account features,” Twitter announced.
“Creating a safer environment for people to freely express themselves is critical to the Twitter community, so if behavior that may violate the Twitter Rules is detected, certain account features become limited,” the company said. “We’ve detected some potentially abusive behavior from your account, so only your followers can see your activity on Twitter for the amount of time shown below.”
The message ended, “Your account will be restored to full functionality in: 11 hours and 59 minutes.”
According to Twitter’s rules, it appears that demands for Tucker Carlson to be fired over comments nearly a decade old do not constitute “potentially abusive behavior,” but tweets pointing out the fact that Whoopi Goldberg committed similar offenses are “potentially abusive.”
Abusive or not, McElhinney’s comments are true. She shared a YouTube video on Facebook pointing out exactly when Whoopi Goldberg claimed Roman Polanski’s crime wasn’t “rape-rape.” She made these comments on “The View” in 2009 — a far more mainstream show than “Bubba The Love Sponge.”
Perhaps McElhinney was targeted because she covered the story of Kermit Gosnell, a notorious abortionist whose life is a cautionary tale for the horrors of late-term abortion.
On Tuesday, McElhinney confirmed that her 12-hour Twitter suspension had ended.
“It’s very worrying, disappointing, and dangerous that [Twitter CEO] Jack Dorsey feels the need to silence debate and dissent and the calling out of hypocrisy wherever it is,” McElhinney told PJ Media on Tuesday.
Besides the defenses of Tucker Carlson, McElhinney’s Twitter account mostly features promotions for the Gosnell film and her book by a similar name.
Twitter has engaged in censorship and suppression of conservative voices many times over. The social media company has suspended PJ Media’s Glenn Reynolds (“Instapundit”), PJ Media’s Sean Medlock (“Jim Treacher”), and the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles. All of these people were reinstated after conservatives complained about their suspensions.
Twitter also flagged Jihad Watch founder Robert Spencer’s tweet stating that Islam is NOT a religion of peace. Worse, the social media company booted feminist Meghan Murphy from the platform for the sin of “misgendering” a man who presented himself as a transgender woman to sue waxing studios that refused to wax his male genitals.
Twitter has declared that it is unacceptable “hate speech” to refer to a biological male as a “him” if he identifies as a woman. This kind of censorship isn’t just forcing people to kowtow to a false ideology — it also undermines key legal protections for biological women and girls, as lesbian feminist Julia Beck testified. While genuine transgender people are not a threat to women and girls, perverts take advantage of transgender protections by posing as transgender to peep on and harass women in single-sex spaces.
Worse, the social media company has not acted against a transgender writer who endorsed cannibalism on the platform.
Meanwhile, Twitter also suspended Ramin Parsa, a former Muslim Christian pastor and refugee from Iran who was unjustly imprisoned by the Mall of America for speaking about his faith with Somali Muslim women who asked him for his backstory.
Twitter needs to reconsider its policies and stop targeting conservatives, Christians, and gender-critical feminists for censorship.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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