Oh

As somebody who is not very conservative in my politics, I'm trying to wrap my around new narratives of freedom of speech that seem to be rearing their heads among hardcore conservatives. Somebody I know the other day was griping about Jimmy Kimmel being back on the air, stating that somebody must be holding a gun to the heads of the people at Disney, and that this all means "we are basically living in communist China because the government can't ban somebody who says something offensive." I have struggled to wrap my head around that statement since this person said it. It has to be the wildest most non-sensical thing I've heard any of my conservative family members say. The absolute wildest. A hardcore conservative admitting that because somebody is allowed to speak their mind and criticize the government, therefore, we live in Communist China? What...the...hell? Also, this person, who is an active member of the LDS church, stated that the church does not do enough to "stand up" to the evil woke forces rampant in this country (citing, as an example, Ezra Taft Benson having the guts to rant about the evils of communism back in the 60s or 70s). There it is. Religious beliefs being swallowed up in political culture. Insane. Why go to church, why profess to believe what you do, when you don't even believe the church and agree with its policies? The church has become slightly more tolerant of certain minorities in the last 10-15 years, and this is... bad? Is it divine or not?