From Joe Rogan to Mike Flynn, the rise in bashing — and banning — ideological opponents

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Joe Rogan has contracted Covid — and some folks are practically gloating because the popular podcaster has made skeptical comments about vaccines.

Candace Owens, the conservative activist who has sharply criticized vaccinations, was rejected for a Covid test by a Colorado lab "because of who you are."

A Florida restaurant owner has posted a sign saying that supporters of President Biden are not welcome to eat there.

Chase Bank canceled Michael Flynn’s credit card, invoking a "possible reputational risk to our company," before backing off.

(WOFL)

Is this what it’s come to? Is this where American society is heading?

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We seem to be arriving at a place where people with a set of political beliefs can get service only if the proprietors of such services agree with their views. Otherwise, they need not apply.

Is this what it’s come to? Is this where American society is heading?

What was once an occasional outrage is becoming more routine. And the anger over such thumb-in-the-eye gestures, not surprisingly, tends to break down along partisan lines. For too many people, if somebody on your side is stiffed it’s appalling, but if it happens to someone on the other side, it’s poetic justice.

It was three years ago when Sarah Huckabee Sanders, dining with her family at a Virginia restaurant, was abruptly booted out. The owner of the Red Hen said that since President Trump’s press secretary worked for an "inhumane and unethical" administration, this was a moment "when people have to make uncomfortable actions and decisions to uphold their morals." The episode was a huge news story.

But then other liberal activists — and Antifa thugs — decided it was cool to harass Trump aides and Republican lawmakers while they were dining, or just walking down the street. And many Trump-haters sort of enjoyed it. These confrontations accomplished nothing, of course, but the perpetrators grabbed a brief moment of online notoriety and smug satisfaction among their supporters.

I can’t believe I have to make the argument that this is deeply destructive to civil society. Over the years we’ve combatted discrimination against minorities, women, and gays. But now we’re faced with the prospect of political segregation, with folks having to determine in advance whether businesses are red or blue. And it’s spreading beyond the old lunch counters.

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Rogan, who has a $100 million deal with Spotify, told his 13 million Instagram followers that after touring on the road, he developed fever and sweats and tested positive for the virus. Rogan is not one of the four anti-vax conservative radio hosts who have tragically died. He did say last April that healthy young people don’t need the vaccine. But after an uproar, the stand-up comedian backed off and said anyone who listens to him on such matters is, and I quote, a "f---ing moron."

Now we’re faced with the prospect of political segregation, with folks having to determine in advance whether businesses are red or blue.

One of the least gracious reactions came from former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, who tweeted that Rogan "deserves all the s--- he’s getting…because he decided awhile ago to spread lies & disinformation…who knows how many of his listeners got sick & died."

Rogan also stirred controversy by saying his "kitchen sink" treatments for the virus include ivermectin, a horse dewormer that the FDA and most medical experts say is useless against Covid. That seems fair game for public debate.

In the case of Candace Owens, who said, "if you do not understand that there is something purely evil involved right now in terms of these vaccines you will never understand," she gets regularly tested as a condition of performing in numerous venues.

Owens said on Instagram that a Colorado facility — identified by Newsweek as Rocky Mountains Lab — refused to test her. She posted a letter in which the lab’s co-owner scolded her that "we cannot support anyone who has pro-actively worked to make this pandemic worse by spreading misinformation."

Self-righteous stance aside, the co-owner would potentially make the pandemic worse by refusing service to someone who might be infected. Owens tweeted that she had been "banned from making sure I don't accidentally spread COVID."

At a restaurant in DeBary, Florida, the front door now bears this sign: "If you voted for and continue to support and stand behind the worthless, inept and corrupt administration currently inhabiting the White House that is complicit in the death of our servicemen and women in Afghanistan, please take your business elsewhere."

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Angie Ugarte, owner of the DeBary Diner, says she was "just angry" and "it was the only thing I felt like I could do."

Actually, she can vent her anger against President Biden in any forum she wants. But barring potential customers based on political beliefs leaves her wide open for a lawsuit.

And what was Chase thinking by yanking the cards of Mike Flynn? The onetime Trump national security adviser was charged with lying to the FBI before the case was thrown out following a presidential pardon. Were bank officials really concerned about their reputation — or striking back at someone they deem unsavory?

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Well, cooler heads — or lawyers — must have prevailed because Chase has now apologized to Flynn and said it made an "error."

"I pray Chase Bank and all their cancel culture partners think twice about what they are doing to destroy the fabric of our constitution," Flynn wrote on Telegram.

Unfortunately, these incidents will keep multiplying because they’ve somehow become socially acceptable. That will change only when the right and left are willing to chastise their own for ostracizing folks from the other side.