The Danger of “I Have Nothing to Hide” Conservatism

Several prominent media outlets, including Fox News, have reported that the Pentagon is working with a UK-based company called Moonshot CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) to find networks of domestic extremists within military ranks.

Moonshot apparently tracks online search terms (and will presumably track them on military networks) to uncover “hate” and “extremism,” and have cited the example of “the truth about Black Lives Matter” as an example of an internet search phrase that might point to a current or would-be white supremacist on the other side of the keyboard. Of course, the phrase itself is a simple inquiry – not revealing anything in particular about the ideology or beliefs of the person asking the question. Yet taken in the context of the military’s new commitment to wokeism and its stated goal of eliminating (subjectively defined) extremism and hate in the ranks, the danger to free expression, inquiry, and conscience of Americans who serve in the military becomes clear. The approach is one step away from charging servicemembers with thought crimes.

It is about this time that the public is treated to this sanctimonious statement (or any number of variations in the same spirit) by supposed conservatives:

“I don’t care if they’re monitoring my internet activity, phone calls, or listening to my conversations! I have nothing to hide! I’m not an extremist!”

Some conservatives never learn. They continue to take the promises of the government, media, and prevailing culture at face value, assuming that liberals and leftists share their understanding of what constitutes “hate” or “extremism.” These conservatives rightly note that there are commonalities – most on the left and the right agree that Nazism is “extreme” and morally wrong. Although principled conservatives believe that expressing Nazi values is still protected speech, no matter how reprehensible we believe this speech to be. We don’t criminalize this speech – instead, we engage it with more speech, and those who promote Nazism are rightfully ostracized. We believe in the principles of the first amendment so much, we refuse to use the power of government to force others to only express what we want them to.

Leftists, on the other hand, do not value individualism and are happy to use the power of the government to punish those they disagree with. They also believe that their political ends justify whatever means they must employ to achieve them, including lying. Leftists do not value individual liberty (a principle that relies on objective morality), and indeed they do not value objectivism – that principle that universal truths exist and must be represented by universally understood and accepted words.

Conservatives forget this and insist on trying to confront leftists with the assumption that each side agrees to both the meanings of terms and that these meanings are fixed. Leftists will often begin the debate under these principles, but will gladly violate them in an instant if needed to advance their cause. For example, attempts to label someone as “woke” or supportive of critical race theory will often be met not with a denial or defense of the ideologies that underpin CRT, but with a simple definitional dodge: “That’s not what CRT is!” or “My beliefs are not critical race theory!” This language subjectivity allows anyone to deny the very beliefs they hold and promote. This doesn’t always fool everyone – for instance, it is obvious that the term racism has been given a novel meaning versus its traditional understanding in order to use it as a tool to shut up people who don’t tow the leftist line.

Yet far too many conservatives have fallen for this trick when it comes to “hate” and “extremism.” Here’s how the gambit works:

• First, conservatives agree with liberals and leftists that morally wrong words and beliefs should be defined as “hate” or “extremism,” and that these words and beliefs may have connections to criminal activity. White supremacy is a prime modern example – enjoying universal condemnation from all sides of the political debate (at least as it is traditionally defined) – although there are many others including traditional racism and calls for criminal activity against others. Conservatives dutifully line up against “hate” and “extremism” as defined by these morally wrong beliefs.
• Second, a causational line is drawn between these evil expressions and actual lawlessness. That is, we all accept that evil expressions must lead to illegal actions. Society (including conservatives) comes to support criminalization of the expression of the ideas themselves, or at the very least censorship by government and private companies (like social media conglomerates). We all cheer Facebook and Twitter’s policing of “hate speech” and policing “extremism.”
• Third, leftists shift the meanings of the terms themselves. “Hate” now contains expressions of disagreement with someone’s lifestyle or beliefs. “Extremism” now encapsulates all forms of disagreement or questioning of the prevailing government-media-corporate position.

Thus, leftists effectively criminalize any behavior they disagree with. All they have to do is move the definitions to include whatever you are doing or saying that they disapprove of. Want to hold to traditional Christian values? Want to openly question government guidance on vaccinations? They define these things as “hateful” or “extremist,” knowing that anything under those banners is automatically criminalized.

The conservative who says, “I have nothing to worry about – I’m not an extremist!” is falling into a trap. They don’t understand their opponents – especially that these opponents will gladly lie, deceive, and move the goalposts at exactly the time it suits their agenda. These naive conservatives will be left wondering what happened as they have agreed to be monitored, tracked, and censored based on bait and switch definitions they foolishly believed everyone would continue to agree on. They are willingly letting the “hate” and “extremism” Trojan horse through the gates, and this horse is full of leftists ready to violently take their freedom.

True conservativism has nothing in common with leftism – no matter what common ground we think we share. Do not fall for the oldest trick in the book and assume your opponents share your values.