Kevin Williamson was fired from the Atlantic on Thursday for his views on abortion, not because he is not a stellar journalist or because of any legitimate fireable offense. This is crazy. The Left is continuing their targeted attacks to de-platform any voices that are in conflict with their agenda, especially when those voices are given mainstream media credentials.
According to a memo sent by the Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, the firing was entirely based on the outrage over Williamson’s tweets. The memo was obtained by TheWrap, which did not provide a link or a photograph in their coverage, but transcribed it as saying in part:
The memo further states, “The language he used in this podcast–and in my conversations with him in recent days–made it clear that the original tweet did, in fact, represent his carefully considered views.
In the 2014 podcast for National Review, Williamson simply discussed his sincerely held beliefs on abortion and responded to a challenger who contended that if Williamson really believed abortion was murder, then he would support “treating it as a homicide” including criminal consequences, such as life in prison with no parole. Williamson said in part, “I’m absolutely willing to see abortion treated like a regular homicide under the criminal code, sure.”
Why is that statement so egregious that the Atlantic would fire Williamson over it? Surely they knew Williamson is a conservative before they hired him. The mainstream conservative and especially religious community position on abortion is that it is murder. Moreover, Williamson is a commentator — his entire line of work in media is to present his views on various political, economic, religious, and social issues.
But the Left agenda cannot tolerate differing viewpoints and the Right to freely disagree or debate issues. The outrage over Williamson’s hiring at the Atlantic was swift on social media when it was first announced. One writer for the Guardian taunted Williamson’s pro-life viewpoint when his hiring was first announced, tweeting:
I’m not saying that Atlantic staffers should wear this shirt on Williamson’s first day, but I’m not NOT saying it either. https://t.co/wlyhFGwMVv pic.twitter.com/RsxirzycfP
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) March 28, 2018
What a wonderful display of respect and tolerance for diversity in viewpoints!
This kind of targeted attack by the Left to silence conservative voices is growing momentum. Laura Ingraham is facing her own backlash and targeted attempt to de-platform her voice on a largely conservative mainstream platform like Fox News. And all this over simply characterizing Parkland survivor David Hogg’s own comments he chose to air on a national news outlet as “whining.” Whether or not anyone agrees with Ingraham’s characterization, it’s also not a legitimately fireable offense, even if advertisers choose to enter the political debate by pulling their sponsorship.
And people wonder why we need media sources like National Review and Fox News and for conservatives to have platforms in publications such as the Atlantic? It’s because without those platforms, the conservative position would be silenced from the national public square. That’s their end game — to silence the conservative voice.
The Atlantic should reconsider its position. I know Kevin professionally, as I’ve written for National Review and I have interviewed him several times for my radio show. I have immense respect for Kevin as a journalist, and we need more people with his ethic and his viewpoint in the public square.
Is the Left so concerned he might actually persuade someone? Probably.
Jenna Ellis (@jennaellisorg) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. She is an attorney, a fellow at the Centennial Institute, a radio show host in Denver, Colo., and the author of The Legal Basis for a Moral Constitution.
