The phrase “Big Brother is watching” from George Orwell’s classic novel, 1984 refers to the government watching and ruling over the lives of its citizens.  Maybe you are worried about the NSA reading your text messages, but I think the real overlords are located in Silicon Valley. Are big tech companies looking out for you?  I am guessing you already know the answer.

Recently, a student had a disagreement with his teacher about how many genders there were, and it was all captured on video. He was suspended from school and later expelled from the Mearns Academy private school. It is bad enough that citing biology facts gets you in trouble in school, but it got worse when the student set up a GoFundMe page to help with legal and new school expenses. After two days of receiving donations, GoFundMe canceled his campaign and shut down the account with no explanation. Apparently, GoFundMe believes that medical scientists for thousands of years missed the other 60+ genders that have been recently discovered or created.  But the debate of how many genders is a side issue of the larger concern, which is a big tech company deciding what side of the political aisle is morally correct. By shutting down his account, they clearly aimed to punish the family by withholding funds, in addition to crushing free speech and points of view that don’t meet corporate guidelines. Do you want some faceless corporation deciding who is worthy of your donations? After all, it is your money, shouldn’t you get to decide? So much for progressives prioritizing “choice”.

Texas representative Joaquin Castro, brother of Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro, recently tweeted the names and employers of 40 San Antonions who contributed $2,800 to Donald Trump’s reelection campaign.  His reasoning was to expose voters in his district that “are fueling a campaign of hate”. His sole purpose was to intimidate and punish those whom he has a political disagreement. Did he try to change their political views with a better and more persuasive argument? You know the answer.  Of course not, he wants the Twitter mob to harass people and dissuade others from supporting President Trump. Twitter, who is quick to de-platform people it thinks are promoting “hate” didn’t have a problem with Mr. Castro’s actions. Gee, what a surprise. Perhaps if Mr. Castro wants to fight a campaign of hate, he should start with the real villain, the man in the mirror.

Many years ago, I bought a t-shirt that reads “Celebrate Freedom, Read a Banned Book” and listed 20 famous books such as The Catcher in the Rye and The Color Purple. You would think in this modern world that progressives who promote inclusiveness and diversity would shudder if a book was banned.  But you would be wrong. Amazon has banned gay conversion therapy books that seek to help those with unwanted same-sex attraction. Amazon gets to decide what you are allowed to read. Why would Amazon do this? Again, you already know the answer: It doesn’t fit in with the Left’s mantra to celebrate all things homosexual, with no exceptions. What if Amazon had banned Heather Has Two Mommies? The ACLU would be parachuting into downtown Seattle, mobs of LGBTQ activists would be protesting in front of Jeff Bezos’ house and the Twitter outrage would be non-stop. Music celebrities would be out in force calling Amazon’s actions hateful and dangerous. The hypocrisy from the Left and big tech companies is obvious and sickening.

The epitome of tolerance and inclusion can be demonstrated by the not so funny comedian Bill Maher.  When famous republican donor David Koch died a few weeks ago, Mr. Maher said, “(insert profanity), I’m glad he’s dead and I hope the end was painful.”  Nice guy. Progressives love to pat themselves on the back for “standing up to hate speech”, but always miss the hypocrisy when one of their own is making hateful comments.  Did Twitter suspend his account? Did HBO cancel his program? Did his Hollywood friends call for him to issue an apology to the Koch family? I bet you already know the answer.