Do Not “Cancel” the Warfighter
By Stuart Scheller
July 29, 2023AP
As the 2024 presidential election approaches, an effort to censor young military members on social media is gaining support from a small, misguided and elitist group. Reference the recent War on the Rocks article titled: “It’s Time to Revise Guidance on Political Activities for Members of the U.S. Military.” The writers are validated and approved to communicate their opinion because they achieved the 0-6 military rank. At least two have PhDs. One teaches at the U.S. Naval Academy and another at Georgetown. Together, they write:
"The [defense] department should consider a prohibition on active-duty servicemembers liking, sharing, retweeting, or posting partisan content on their personal social media accounts… Posting on social media is not akin to writing an op-ed, which is an allowable form of non-social media expression under the current [military] guidelines. An op-ed must meet certain publication and editorial standards… Tweets or posts face no such scrutiny or review and can be unlimited in their volume."
Beyond asking for a total “prohibition” on speech from personal social media accounts, the authors also propose that military members of all ranks and education levels restrict their dissenting political opinions to published editorials. This logic is dangerous for a few reasons.
https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2023/07/29/do_not_cancel_the_warfighter_969428.html
