The Free Speech Case Against Cancelling Tulsi Gabbard | TaraElla Report S8

Right now, I think I need to talk about the latest controversy Tulsi Gabbard has found herself in. And this is no small controversy. I mean, supporters of Tulsi have been saying they're walking away from her. People are saying on Tulsi's Reddit that they may not be able to support her in 2024 now. Even Shoe0nhead, otherwise known as Brainlet, previously a big Tulsi fan, is apparently reconsidering her support. The situation looks like it's even more serious than the controversy surrounding Tulsi's refusal to vote to impeach President Trump last year.

So what is it about? Apparently, Tulsi introduced a bill into congress, to amend Title IX, in a way that could prevent trans people competing in women's sports. Now, I don't know why she's chosen to do this now, and frankly, if the bill were before me and I had to vote, I think I would vote against it. Not that it matters, because I don't think the Democratic controlled House is going to bring it up for a vote anyway. Besides, Tulsi is leaving congress in a few weeks' time anyway. In other words, the bill is very likely to be going nowhere at all. However, people are getting upset that Tulsi is taking a stance that they don't agree with, even if it won't have any impact in the end.

My perspective is that, just like Tulsi's decision not to impeach President Trump last year, it's not the content of the bill that matters, but the fact that people are able to act on their sincere beliefs without social backlash. Last year, Tulsi's decision to abstain from the impeachment vote was met with backlash, led by people like AOC, who clearly didn't understand what freedom of conscience meant. As I said back then, it's okay to disagree with Tulsi's decision to abstain, but it's not OK to disrespect her for it, or pressurize others to toe the party line in any other way. The important thing is, politicians have to be able to be honest about their views, even when their supporters may not agree with it. Anything less would be an unacceptable limitation on free conscience and free debate.

Besides, it's this 'someone is either with us or against us' kind of attitude that is ultimately feeding into the cancel culture machine. This attitude is severely restricting public debate, because people are scared to say anything about all sorts of hot button cultural issues, like guns, abortion, police reform, and many LGBT-related issues. I know this very well, because I have received backlash from comments about some of these issues, and now I have learned to keep quiet sometimes. It breaks my heart that we live in a world like this. It's some serious regression, compared even to back when I was in college, which was like just 15 years ago. Back when I was in college, we used to be able to talk about anything, but nowadays, it's not like that anymore, and I seriously think it's unfortunate. I mean, if only we were able to talk about cultural issues like we talk about economic issues. Medicare For All and UBI gained lots of support in the past few years because of all the debates people had. But on the cultural front, it's all just silence and stalemate.

Finally, I want to talk about the wider context of this current controversy. I mean, what actually happened was that Tulsi has been busily working to introduce many bills into congress for some reason. This trans sports bill is actually only one among many controversial bills she's introduced, and arguably has the least widespread impact. I mean, I thought people would be more worked up about issues like Section 230, but I was wrong. For some reason, LGBT issues have been particularly hot button and divisive in the past year or so. And, as I commented during the JK Rowling wars, I think this is likely to be the work of people with ulterior motives on both sides, and the LGBT community would be wise to water all the controversy down with a big hose, and tell everyone to just chill. I seriously hope the LGBT community stops falling for this trap.