Dennis Prager, founder of Prager University.
While last week’s violent riots at the U.S. Capitol were “despicable” and “disgusting” and worthy of condemnation, the continued left-wing repression of free speech in the United States poses a greater threat, U.S. radio talk show host and columnist Dennis Prager said Tuesday (Jan. 13) in an interview on The Epoch Times’ “American Thought Leaders.
Prager made the remarks in response to a question about criticism of conservatives and “anti-communist hawks” by some members of the media. The mainstream media accuses these conservatives of being more concerned with and condemning censorship and restrictions on free speech than they are with criticizing the riots at the Capitol.
Prager said the two are “completely incomparable” in terms of the actual threat they pose to the United States. While condemning last Wednesday’s riots, Prager contrasted that the riots are far less of a threat to the United States than the left’s suppression of free speech.
“The whole point of America is freedom, and the left is suppressing and oppressing the greatest attributes of America,” he said.
“What’s threatening this country? A stupid, misguided, despicable attack on the Capitol? A Congress that will reopen in a few hours. Or the continued repression against free speech? They’re not comparable.”
He said, “There is no comparison, and the disgusting events that took place on Jan. 6 are far less of a threat to this country than the left’s suppression of free speech.”
Prager said that while the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigations have just begun and a full inventory of the attacks on the Capitol is not yet complete, there is a long track record to follow about the consequences of the left’s suppression of free speech.
“The left has suppressed freedom everywhere they have seized power, and there has never been an exception to that,” he said. He noted that there are countless examples of shockingly oppressive crimes committed by communist regimes against their own people over the past 100 years.
He said, “It’s unbelievable that this is happening in the same country that has the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell, and they’re thumbing their noses at that.” He also said he has seen evidence that the left is using the siege of the Capitol to impose restrictions on free speech.
“There is no exception in the last 100 years where no left-winger has come to power without suppressing free speech,” he said. “And they are now using Jan. 6 as an excuse to do so.”
He said Amazon’s removal of Parler was a “perfect example. On Monday morning (Jan. 11), Amazon Web Services (AWS) removed Parler, sparking debate over whether the move was intended to stifle free speech.
This case is not about suppressing speech or suppressing opinions,” Amazon Web Services said Wednesday (Jan. 13) in response to a lawsuit filed by Parler. It is not a conspiracy designed to restrict commerce.”
The company said, “Rather, this case demonstrates that Parler is unwilling and unable to remove content from Amazon Web Services’ servers that threatens public safety, such as incitement and planning for rape, torture and the assassination of public officials and individuals.”
John Matze, CEO of Parler, condemned the calls for violence on his platform.
Matze said, “We will never allow this behavior and we have many measures in place to stop it.” He was referring to incitement to violence. He also added that Parler supports freedom of speech.
Meanwhile, social media giants Twitter and Facebook announced tighter restrictions on their platforms following the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. Facebook targeted the keyword “Stop the Steal,” referring to election fraud, while Twitter targeted accounts that follow the QAnon movement.
Recent Comments