Joseph F. Cotto: Over the last decade and a half, America's traditional media outlets have been losing ground at light speed. Alternative sources, such as cable news channels and political websites, have found remarkable success. Why do you suppose that this is?
Pamela Geller: Because the traditional media outlets are dishonest. They are increasingly unmasked as propaganda arms for the left. The media today have one goal: to shape the news, change the message, even lie about the news to advance a collectivist, pro-sharia agenda. People have been burned, and burned badly. They are turning to alternative sources, particularly honest pro-freedom blogs, for the truth.
Cotto: It is very easy to see that most news outlets are biased in one way or another. Some on the left claim that a conservative business complex of sorts runs everything, while a great many on the right think that hardline progressives control all but a few sources. What is your opinion on this seeming quagmire?
Geller:What conservative business complex? Where? That is total projection on the left's part. They accuse us of what they are guilty of. The right is fragmented and filled with cowards who eagerly give up anyone among their own whom the left is denouncing. The left, by contrast, always marches in lockstep. If anyone of their own is in trouble (however egregious the offense), they circle the wagons. This is the one lesson the right ought to have learned from the left. Stand by your people. Is it any wonder the right lacks fierce leadership?
The right gives the left the power to define the narrative, the parameters, who is acceptable and who isn't. The right should withdraw its sanction.
Off topic but related: It's not really left vs right. I understand that this is the context in which all things political are framed, but it is wrong. The real conflict today is individualism (right) vs collectivism (left). The defense of individual rights is the wellspring of all of my ideas. That is my fundamental premise: defense of individual rights and property rights.
Cotto: Political correctness rose to prominence in order to deal with longstanding social inequalities. However, with the passing of time, it has become a frequent means of suppressing diverse ideas and, in a more comprehensive sense, free speech. From your standpoint, what will the legacy of political correctness in America be regarded as?
Geller:If free people triumph, political correctness will be regarded as a treasonous movement to weaken America and destroy the freedom of speech, our fundamental protection against tyranny. "Political correctness" is a euphemism for thought control and the criminalization of thought.
