Originally Posted by
Lee Chowaniec
'Legitimate criticism' is still guaranteed by constitution
But what constitutes ‘legitimate criticism’ and who determines whether the criticism is legitimate? Pelosi? The Left? Congress? Mainstream media? The political correctness mob? The social justice warriors? The cancel culture crowd?
Ilhan Omar shared a controversial exchange in a tweet on Monday, per Politico, alongside the text, "We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan, and the Taliban."
Despite having first labeled Democratic criticism "shameful" and "unbearable," Omar later made a "full backtrack," per reporter Ben Jacobs, citing her comments as pertaining to "accountability for specific incidents regarding those ICC cases," and not a "moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel."
In her clarification, Omar, a progressive Minnesota Democrat and one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, explained that her original comments had focused on ongoing International Criminal Court probes - "not a moral comparison between Hamas and the Taliban and the U.S. and Israel. "I was in no way equating terrorist organizations with democratic countries with well-established judicial systems," said Omar, a Somali refugee.
That clarification appeared to satisfy Pelosi and her team, who said in their Thursday statement: "We welcome the clarification by Congresswoman Omar that there is no moral equivalency between the U.S. and Israel and Hamas and the Taliban."
"Legitimate criticism of the policies of both the United States and Israel is protected by the values of free speech and democratic debate. And indeed, such criticism is essential to the strength and health of our democracies," the Democratic leadership team said in its statement.
So what constitutes legitimate criticism of the Trump and Biden administrations. Is saying, “F**k Trump” okay – as was publicly said by a celebrity? Is opining that Biden’s border policy is the root cause of the border crisis and not Trump’s fault as the Biden administration and the mainstream media would like us to believe?
Walking on eggshells as I watch free speech erode for some but not all. Who are the ‘legitimate criticism’ police? It is becoming the practice of the media to now protect its interests by posting disclaimers like:
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.