“Once You Start Censoring, You’re On Your Way To Dystopia And Totalitarianism”, RFK Jr. Wrecks House Committee

“Once You Start Censoring, You’re On Your Way To Dystopia And Totalitarianism”, RFK Jr. Wrecks House Committee. By Tyler Durden.

“We need to be able to talk,” Kennedy told the [House Judiciary Committee]. “And, the First Amendment was not written for easy speech. It was written for the speech that nobody likes you for.” …

In a hearing on censorship, the Democrats resorted to censorship:

Efforts by Democrats to prevent Kennedy from testifying began earlier this week. On Monday, Reps. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) and Judy Chu (D-Calif.) sent a letter signed by 102 House Democrats to House Republican leadership, requesting they “rescind Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s invitation to testify.”

According to the letter: “Mr. Kennedy has repeatedly attacked two groups that have long been subject to deadly discrimination. His own credibility as a witness is nonexistent. Allowing Mr. Kennedy to serve as a witness before the Select Subcommittee only services [sic] to legitimize his antisemitic and anti-Asian views,”  ….

House Republican leadership rejected the request prior to the hearing. “The hearing that we have this week is about censorship,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said. “I don’t think censoring somebody is actually the answer here.” …

They never let effective anti-narrative people speak (or write) in public:

Comparing the efforts to the McCarthyism of the 1950s, Kennedy said he is being censored “through smears, through misinterpretations of what I’ve said, through lies, through association,” adding that “While I’m under oath, in my entire life I have never uttered a phrase that was either racist or anti-Semitic.”

Rep. Thomas Massey (R-Ky.), in an impromptu interview after the hearing, said:

“The irony and cognitive dissonance from the other side of the aisle, it’s deafening. You could cut it with a knife. They are at the same time denying that censorship is occurring, but suggesting that there’s more material that needs to be censored.”

 

 

Still, efforts to stop Kennedy’s testimony continued throughout the hearing. Wasserman Schultz requested a point of order, claiming that Kennedy was in violation of House Rule 11, Clause 2, because he “repeatedly made despicable anti-Semitic and anti-Asian comments.”

Wasserman said the rule bars testimony that “may tend to defame, degrade or incriminate any person.”

Following a motion by Massey to table the point of order, a roll-call vote was held, which passed 10-8 along party lines, enabling Kennedy’s testimony to continue. …

The left say anything to discredit an anti-narrative person:

“‘Misinformation’ is when you don’t have the facts right — you’re saying things that aren’t true,” [Representative Jim Jordan] said. “But when you look at Mr. Kennedy’s tweet, there was nothing in there that was factually inaccurate. And yet, the White House, on the third day [of the Biden administration], were trying to censor Mr. Kennedy.”

“The irony here is they are trying to censor the guy who’s actually their Democrat primary opponent,” Jordan added, referencing Kennedy’s presidential campaign.”

Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) of the Judiciary Committee echoed Jordan’s statements. “It is for this that Mr. Kennedy finds himself receiving the scorn of both the political left and right, because if one dares challenge the orthodoxy of the powers that be, then one is their enemy.” …

Kennedy, repeatedly responded to claims of “anti-Semitism” and “racism,” stating that “What you have stated and tried to associate me with through guilt by association is simply inaccurate. All the things that I’m accused of right now by you and in this letter are distortions, misrepresentations.” …

“These are defamations and malignancies that are used to censor me to prevent people from listening to the actual things that I’m saying,” Kennedy said.

“And I think … that we should have a real conversation rather than an exchange of ad hominem attacks.” …

Quite right:

Kennedy said that his Instagram account had been banned despite containing “no misinformation,” but only content that “was cited and sourced,” including from “peer-reviewed publications or government databases.” Yet, he was “removed something called ‘malinformation.’”

He defined “malinformation” as “information that is true but is inconvenient to the government that they don’t want people to hear.” …

Noting though that “it became more difficult for people to censor me outright” after he announced his presidential campaign, Kennedy said he is now “subject to this new form of censorship, which is called ‘targeted propaganda,’ where people apply pejoratives like ‘anti-vax’ … to silence me.” …

“My views are constantly misrepresented,” Kennedy said.

“We’re not allowed to have a conversation about that with the American people, [that] vaccines should be tested with the same rigor as other medicines and medications.”

Forget it, today’s Democrats are Alinskiites:

“We need to start being kind to each other,” Kennedy continued. “We need to start being respectful to each other. We need to start restoring the comity to this chamber and to the rest of America. But it has to start here.”

Notably though, Democrat members of the subcommittee directed few questions at Kennedy, instead preferring to question their own witness, Wiley. Chris D. Jackson, an election commissioner and former Democratic party chair from Tennessee, tweeted that this was intentional, “denying him the opportunity to respond.”

RFK has all the right enemies, and is saying the right things.