The New York Times And The Cancel Culture Contradiction

In 1940, President Roosevelt signed into law a piece of legislation known as the Smith Act, which allowed the federal government near unlimited power to arrest political dissidents. Although the legislation is most known for its use during the red scare/McCarthy era of the 1950’s, it had actually been used multiple times before then. For example, Roosevelt attempted to use it — specifically, its restriction that an immigrant could have never been involved with a communist party — against labor activist Harry Bridges, who Roosevelt was already unsuccessfully trying to deport when the legislation was signed.

The New York Times were very vocal supporters of the Smith Act, warning that, if it wasn’t passed, Eastern European immigrants would come to the United States and force the nation into a war with Hitler. Of course, this was at a time where the United States was still attempting to be neutral on Hitler, with leftists and socialists leading the charge against neutrality and for a full-out conflict — “fascism means war,” was a common leftist phrase at the time.

On 3/18/2022, The New York Times published an article called “America Has a Free Speech Problem.” The article is a typical rant about “cancel culture,” from those in the mainstream media — lecturing us uppity proles about how we shouldn’t dare criticize them. I’ve…