A call for free speech and disciplined teens

life without her. She is also a breast cancer survivor.

The left says things far worse than what she tweeted about David Hogg. My hate mail makes her remarks seem tame by comparison, but I don’t demand apologies. I can take it.

Speaking of comparisons, recall what Joy Behar said on ABC’s “The View” about Vice President Mike Pence’s Christian faith. She mocked his beliefs and suggested they might reflect a mental illness.

Apparently under similar pressure from ABC, Behar apologized on the air and went further, calling the vice president and apologizing to him directly, which he graciously accepted.

In an interview with The Outline, Hogg spewed the worst profanities and insulted parents, who he thinks are stupid because they are not fluent in social media. Where is parental discipline when it’s needed most? If he were my kid and behaved as he does, he’d be grounded. If the behavior continued, he’d have to find somewhere else to live.

Some sponsors have pulled their commercials from Ingraham’s show, as some did after Behar’s insulting remark.

This is the wrong approach. Instead of boycotts and threats, how about celebrating the First Amendment by encouraging people to say what they think? Then viewers can decide whether to “buy” what a program is selling or change channels. That was what the left said to do in the 1980s when conservatives were upset by some TV programming. “If you don’t like it, change the channel,” they said. If that was an option then, why isn’t it an option now?

Debate is better than boycotts and pressure, egged on by groups that raise funds from this type of controversy. The country and its politics would benefit from genuine debate, rather than attempts to silence people with whom we might disagree.

Let David Hogg speak his immature mind and let Laura Ingraham have her say. And then let them debate each other, assuming Hogg doesn’t want to adopt another role — that of coward.