Chattanooga Times Free Press

ORWELL REARS HIS HEAD

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To use the phrase “sexual preference” was completely acceptable a week or so ago. As recently as last month, multiple gay rights publicatio­ns used the phrase. Leon Panetta had used the phrase in the past couple of years. Joe Biden has used the phrase this year.

Merriam-Webster considered “sexual preference” to be just another version of “sexual orientatio­n.” But then last Tuesday happened.

On Tuesday, the village idiot from Hawaii masqueradi­ng as a senator, Mazie Hirono, attacked Amy Coney Barrett for using “sexual preference” instead of “sexual orientatio­n.”

By Tuesday evening, the employees of Merriam-Webster had changed the phrase in their online dictionary to note it was offensive. No, I am not making that up. The dictionary company literally changed it after Barrett’s exchange with Hirono. Steve Krakauer, a former CNN producer who now produces Megyn Kelly’s podcast, documented the change on his social media feed.

Gay rights publicatio­ns such as The Advocate went on the attack as well. In just 18 days, “sexual preference” went from acceptable to a hate crime. On Sept. 25, 2020, The Advocate tweeted out a story from its publicatio­n with this quote: “To come from that history to be able to now, as a director, be telling these stories (…) about young people who are just comfortabl­e with who they are, no matter what their sexual preference is. It’s just glorious and so satisfying.” On Oct. 13, 2020, The Advocate ran a story with the headline “Amy Coney Barrett Blasted for AntiLGBTQ+ Term ‘Sexual Preference.’”

Then there is the matter of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden story. One of the most widely distribute­d newspapers in America has a major scoop about Joe Biden and his son, and Twitter not only blocked access to the story but also locked accounts trying to share the story and blocked people from even sharing links to the story.

Twitter was fine with a McClatchy story about Michael Cohen going to Prague, even after Robert Mueller specifical­ly said the story was not true. Twitter was fine with BuzzFeed sharing the Steele dossier and rumors about the “pee tape.”

But Twitter would not let a legitimate story from a legitimate publicatio­n about Biden be circulated because the material was obtained through alleged “hacking.” It actually was not hacking. Whoever dropped off the laptop, which allegedly belonged to Hunter Biden, for repair never bothered to pick it up. It became the property of the store owner.

The American left and their tech comrades are trying to win by suppressin­g informatio­n they do not like and twisting language to suit their ends. They have dragged us into George Orwell’s nightmare vision.

Progressiv­es feel emboldened by what they see as a Biden win shaping up. They are revealing their own authoritar­ian nature with a heavy streak of totalitari­anism where dissent is not permitted, language they deem hateful is not allowed and the news stories they find inconvenie­nt are buried.

If Twitter’s handling of the Hunter Biden story is not proof enough, consider Portland, Oregon. The national press has stopped covering the riots, but they are still happening. The American media moved on from the story the moment it appeared to be impacting Biden.

Tech giants, mainstream media outlets and Democrats unable to win fairly have chosen to ignore stories that could damage Biden, block conservati­ves from sharing those stories and even alter the dictionary to advance their cause.

These are dangerous games they are playing, and they will end badly for everyone if they continue.

 ??  ?? Erick Erickson
Erick Erickson

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