By Pierre Kory
Published May 20, 2022
The high-profile back-and-forth between Elon Musk and Twitter has jump
started a national conversation about the broader re-alignment of our
cultural priorities and ideology. In the face of blowback from
progressives, Musk has argued that today’s Democratic Party, "has been hijacked by extremists," morphing fellow center-left liberals like
myself to align with current perspectives of those held by
conservatives.
He's right—and the Democrat party’s newfound and aggressive affinity
for censoring debate and strong-arming doctors is making many of us
rethink our political allegiance.
I’m a lifelong Democrat. I voted for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and
Joe Biden. I used to have an inherent aversion to Republicans, as I
joke with colleagues, similar to how the vaccinated feel about the
unvaccinated today. But as the pandemic unfolded, and I discussed with
doctors across the country and around the world my experience treating patients, I met many new conservative colleagues and friends who put
politics aside to focus on doing our best at the bedside. It made me
more tolerant and understanding of their worldviews.
At the same time, I used to view Democrats, and the center-left more
broadly, as the champions of free speech both in civil society and in
our professional institutions. But now, as with today’s progressive
political movement, medical boards are adopting policies that censor
opinions, defining such speech as mis- or disinformation, especially
scientific opinions around COVID. Medical professionals who refuse to
toe the party line risk censorship, cancellation, and even the loss of license—a fate far worse than getting banned from Twitter.
The trend is forcing doctors who exhibit critical thinking to face an existential choice: join the mob and support what many of us believe
are dangerous policies without a sound scientific basis, or stand up
and risk losing your livelihood.
Continued:
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/doctor-democrat-covid-censorship-pierre-kory
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