Living the Edward R. Murrow warning

You’re probably sure by now I’m a hardcore free speech advocate, even when those speaking are either a) ignorant and repeating half-truths or b) saying something I don’t particularly like or agree with.

Part of that belief, though, is that we have a level playing field, and that regardless of message, it’s at least based in truth.

Truth is, period. It’s not truth that has been washed through the lens of current zeitgeist, or interpreted by “scholars” and pundits and anyone with a Karen complex. It also shouldn’t come with penalties.

Take the latest manufactured uproar regarding Whoopi Goldberg and her comments regarding the Holocaust, in which she downplayed the death of millions into something that was “whites killing whites.” Her comments, while ignorant in the extreme, served to illuminate a few things, in that currently it’s only criminal for people of color to be attacked, that the lives of whites are meaningless.

Dismissing it as white-on-white crime discounts a group of people — Jews, in this case — who long have been considered a race, is a form of racism in and of itself, and that’s the truth, although if you listen to her apologists — every one in the media — and herself, she doesn’t believe that.

The people that populate that side of society would have you believe they’re adamant about the truth, and even like to spout trite sayings like “you’re entitled to your opinion, you are not entitled to your own set of facts,” which was coined by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Normally, that is tossed at my side of the fence, and people like Ms. Goldberg get a pass. In this case, the company that broadcasts her show “The View,” on which she made her ludicrous statement, opted to suspend her for two weeks.

This was a paltry attempt at holding her accountable for her words, paltry in that other people not of liberal persuasion have been excoriated for saying less. Gina Carano, who made the dire error of putting out a meme to illustrate the ridiculousness of mask mandates (that alluded to the Holocaust), was fired by Lucasfilms and was dropped by her talent agency.

Others have suffered similar fates, such as Roseanne Barr, fired for making a tasteless joke about Valerie Jarrett.

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Double standards in reaction aside, there is a real problem with reacting to what people say with any sort of punishment. When people are cautioned about what they say with phrases like, “Choose your next words carefully” or “you will be held accountable for what you say,” it shows that our country has backpedaled to become exactly what it was prior to the Revolution.

Which is to say that instead of saying, “I don’t agree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it,” we’ll say “Shut it if you know what’s good for you.”

From there, it’s a short trip to the gulag.

Wouldn’t it have been simpler to explain, using things like facts and truth, to Ms. Goldberg that what she said was not only extremely dismissive as well as factually incorrect? Use a constructive instruction to teach the truth? I realize that not only does that require Ms. Goldberg to be receptive, but it also takes a deft hand to present the information without seeming to be insulting, thin skins being what they are these days.

Look at it this way. You want to teach a child, do you beat it and send it away when the answer is wrong (or not to your liking)? Or do you take the time to instruct, to correct, to give the child the information and the truth, and let it make its own mind up on what it feels?

Build up, or tear down. We all benefit from one, and only an elite class benefits from another. 

Or, as Murrow said, “Good night and good luck.”

Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..