It all began with a tweet about Vice President Kamala Harris's sartorial choices during the State of the Union address.

Conservative commentator Amber Athey tweeted the following:

Kamala looks like a UPS employee — what can brown do for you? Nothing good, apparently.

— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) March 2, 2022

The tweet wasn't particularly funny or clever.  It was just among that innocuous, almost silly variety of tweets that people post after a hard day at work. 

Athey is the Washington editor for The Spectator magazine's global edition, and she also had a regular spot on conservative radio station WMAL, which also hosts Dan Bongino, Mark Levin, and Ben Shapiro.

Athey's tweet about Harris seemed as though it had met its deserved fate of sinking into oblivion.

Athey wrote, "No one had a problem with the tweet until a few days later when I spoke critically of protests in favor of 'trans kids' at the University of North Texas.  A group of left-wing activists who want to chemically castrate children in the name of 'gender affirmation' came after me."

Her tweet was reframed by a Twitter mob as (unsurprisingly) racist.

Athey's employers at The Spectator and WMAL received angry emails that described Athey as a racist.  They threatened to cancel their subscriptions and those of their friends and relatives if Athey wasn't sacked.

Athey even shared a screenshot of one such email.

This guy asking my publication to fire me claims he is a subscriber but neither his name nor email show up in our subscriber database. Try harder, KHIVE.

Btw, if you want your emails to my employer to carry more weight, you can subscribe first with the promo code AMBER ЁЯШШ pic.twitter.com/inkbXCkg3W

— Amber Athey (@amber_athey) March 5, 2022

Athey wrote that her superiors at The Spectator, who have consistently stood for free speech and confronted censorship, ridiculed the angry emails and promptly deleted them.

Athey assumed that her superiors at WMAL would have an identical reaction.

After a week since the social media storm calmed down, Athey presumed that all had returned back to normal.

On March 9, Athey co-hosted her show, presuming it was another day at work.  However, later that afternoon, the unexpected occurred. 

Athey was contacted by Jeff Boden, the vice president of station owner Cumulus Washington, and human resources V.P. Kriston Fancellas, who informed her that her tweet about Kamala Harris was "racist."  Also, her subsequent attempts to defend herself and mock the efforts to cancel her were deemed unacceptable.  It was claimed she had "violated the company's social media policy," hence she was terminated on the spot.

Athey says she wasn't offered an opportunity to defend herself, nor were her colleagues consulted.

WMAL has not countered Athey's version of the events, which means that her account is most likely factual.

Clearly, this isn't an ideal time for silly jokes.  The comedian either runs the risk of being struck in the face or being sacked from his job.

But on a serious note, the problem is systemic.

Leftists know that they cannot win in the arena of ideas.  Despite their dogmatism, the general public does not care for their extreme ideas.

From attempting to promote transgenderism among young children to celebrating a male triumphing in a swimming contest against women, the left has lost touch with reality and what is acceptable among decent regular people.

Since they cannot win in the free market, they employ draconian measures of cancelation.

They pick prominent contrarians such as Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Glenn Beck, Joe Rogan, Bill O'Reilly, Ben Shapiro, etc. who have been in broadcasting for a long period of time.  Obviously, they have expressed a lot about myriad key issues that may be deemed "offensive" in social media posts or old videos that can be excavated.

The radicals pick random sentences and strip their context to make the individual sound like any variety of bigot they want.  At times, they resort to manufacturing allegations, just as they did with Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

It begins on social media.  They hire P.R. firms to post on social media with specific hashtags that soon become a trend.  Many unsuspecting individuals join the trend, hoping to receive the attention they have craved for all their lives, hence the trend is prolonged.

The mainstream media that function as a propaganda wing for the left are always eager to amplify obscure left-wing causes. 

They cover this "sensational" discovery, making the outrage against the individual sound like a national consensus, despite the fact that their opinion is that of a tiny percentage of people.  Even the slightest deviation is regarded as blasphemous.  Finally, they demand that the contrarian be fired.

Next, activists or even paid shills pretending to be the outraged mob confront the sponsors and corporate leadership with questions such as "Do you support bigotry?" or "Do you support a predator?"  Sending emails is often cheaper.

Most businesses just want to survive the barrage of attacks.  Seldom do they investigate the sources of the noises.

The cacophony creates a perception that is conflated with reality.  Angry rants on MSNBC, vicious op-eds in the New York Times, and fifty paid demonstrators outside a corporate headquarters are enough to make management shudder in their boots.

Then some investors, deceived by the noise, sell off investments in the company, causing the value of the stock to plummet, and the corporate surrender is complete.

They sack the "offender" with a pledge to stand for whatever virtue the mob demands.

They fail to realize that appeasement always emboldens the persecutor and makes him come back for more.  A bully can be vanquished only by confrontation.

Another reason for the instant capitulation is that quite often, the business side of various conservative platforms is overwhelmingly liberal.  They may work for a conservative outlet, but they despise its content.  When they see an opportunity to silence a conservative voice, they willingly join the mob.

For the left, this is a victory.  They have shut down another voice that debunks their propaganda.  The climate of fear created deters others from uttering even a syllable against the groupthink.

It is important to state that despite their utterances and statements, neither the mob nor the corporate leadership cares about the issues or the persecuted.  This isn't about morality or ethics or taste. 

For instance, if Stephen Colbert had made the joke about the color of Kamala's pantsuit as Athey did, they would probably be guffawing interminably.

Since they cannot win people over, they apply iron-fist tactics to shut down their opposition.

Amber Athey was not even a top-ranking voice with a syndicated radio audience, yet she was a target.  Perhaps they sense a threat and sought to pre-emptively terminate her, hoping she would go gently into the night.

Refreshingly, Amber's defiant stand has caused her to receive some media attention, making her more of a major conservative voice and probably even a star.

Hopefully, the conservative stars on WMAL will lend their support to Athey.  Hopefully, Fox News will hire Athey and give this attractive young conservative voice a bigger platform.

For conservative commentators, this is an important lesson.  If they can, they must choose only those platforms whose management is independent and fearless. 

Photo credit: Twitter icon.